Prove Them Wrong
by Still Frames
Summary: Hameron. House is forced to save Cameron from herself and her boyfriend. Warning: Eating Disorder & Abuse.
1. Chapter 1: Face Down

Chapter One

Even through her perfectly applied makeup and baggy, pink scrubs and long sleeve gray shirt, he knew there was something different. He could even go as far as saying something was wrong. As had been his custom for the last two weeks he stood behind the nurse's station in the ER, not out of sight, but out of the way enough so no one would draw attention to him. The nurses knew to steer clear of him for fear of making him angry. She could feel his eyes burning into her skin but didn't turn around to acknowledge his prescence just yet. She finished up stitching the young woman and grabbed her file off of the bed and walked towards the nurses station. Throwing it into the 'discharge' pile, she picked up another file and began reading.

"You're pretending to not see me," he said walking closer to her though she still didn't look up. "I know you do," he stated simply.

"I know it's a concept that's so out there it's hard for you to grasp, but some doctors actually see the patients they've been assigned to," she replied, still reading the patients file.

He grabbed the file from her hands so she finally had to face him when he said, "you've been avoiding me."

"Another bonus for not working for you: I don't have to avoid you," she tried to grab the folder but he was too fast for her.

Now he was just annoyed, "You could say that, except you were suppose to fill out some reports for me last week, Cuddy's orders."

"She never ordered me to fill out those reports, House. She asked me to help you because she doesn't even think you know how to fill them out right seeing as how I always did them when I worked for you." she finally managed to grab the file back from him and began reading where she had left off.

He stared at her for a moment, amazed that this was the same woman he had hired nearly six years ago who was afraid to overstep her boundaries. She pushed a few loose strands of hair behind her ears. He noticed that her hair wasn't nearly as full as it use to be, it had become stringy and dull and he wasn't positive but he thought he could see places of thinning that would soon become bald spots.

"Fine, let's make a deal then, shall we?" he said perking up. "You fill out those reports tonight and I will bring you dinner as my way of saying 'thank you'." he proposed as he pulled out his vicodin and popped two in his mouth.

When she didn't answar, he rubbed his hands together and lifted his eyebrows, "pretty please?" he said with fake sincerity.

"Fine, i'll do them tonight," she mumbled and then walked away to her patient in the far corner.

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A few minutes later, back in his dimly lit office, he threw a cushy ball between his hands as he thought in his lounge chair in the corner. He thought about her. Cameron. It started with her nails. She had handed him a file one day in the E.R. when he caught a glimpse of her fingernails which were a slightly tinted blue color. She had caught him staring at them so the next day she had come in with her nails painted pink. Then he had noticed she avoiding the cafeteria on her lunch break. Now it was her hair which was nowhere as luscious as it use to be. He wasn't fond of the ER, or any department besides his own for that matter, but he couldn't keep himself away to study her.

Down in the ER, Cameron, after finishing up with her patient, had gone to the locker room to have a moment by herself. She avoided all the mirrors and sat on the ground against her locker with her knees by her face. She knew it wouldn't be long before House, if he hadn't already, realized something was seriously wrong with her. He had once told her that she likes to fix people but for that matter so didn't he. He didn't like not having answars and right now she was a huge question mark to him. She knew that she would have to go to some great lengths to keep her secret away from him.

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"Blue tinted finger nails, loss of hair and irritability are symptoms of what?" he asked barging into Wilson's office while he was typing up an email on his computer.

"You know, I think my office should have glass walls like yours so that way you can see what you're interrupting before you actually come in," he said as he sent his email.

"Just humor me," he said sitting down and he twirled his cane.

"Most commonly, an eating disorder, but you already knew that. Why did you ask?" he scrunched his eyebrows.

"Seen Cameron lately?" House said hitting the ground with his cane.

Wilson thought for a moment and leaned back in his chair, "no I haven't seen her in a while. Wait do you think Cameron has an ED?"

"We're gonna find out tonight!" he said sounding almost excited.

"What are you talking about, House?" he said recognizing the look in his eyes.

"I told Cameron that if she filled out my reports tonight that i'd bring her dinner. You're gonna come to my office and eat with us and see if you notice, oh I don't know, any non-Cameron like behavior." he stood up.

"Like what?" Wilson asked kind of confussed as he didn't know Cameron all too well.

"An example? Well, off the top of my head, like if she throws up her food!" house said with bulged eyes and walked out.

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She stood silently in the back of the elevator, leaning heavily against the wall railing as she stared down at her hands. She'd been stitching and bandaging people's cuts and wounds all day she felt like she was covered in other people's blood. Her cream colored hands were perfectly clean but knowing that couldn't wipe away how dirty she felt. Getting off the elevator, she walked at a mild pace as the bright lights were causing her to squint a little. Peering through the glass windows, she wasn't suprised to see House's empty as she quickly settled in the diagnostic room, at her old desk. She threw her stuff down next to the desk and put on a pot of coffee. It was nearing 8:30pm and she knew House would be around soon with food. Filling her cup with coffee she sat back down at her desk and pulled out a small bottle of ipecac syrup and put about a tablespoon amount into her coffee. She put the ipecac back into her bag and then pushed her coffee away from her. She pulled out a file and rubbed her eyes before reading the file and filling out the answars. She'd gotten almost five reports done before she could hear a familiar voice whistling from down the hall. Cameron looked up for a brief moment then back down to the report finishing it off as House and Wilson walked in.

"Why, hello there, sunshine!" House said cheerily and Wilson rolled his eyes behind him.

"Hi, Wilson." Cameron smiled briefly.

Wilson placed two big bags on the table and ripped them open revealing boxes of chinese food. He placed them on the table as House walked towards Cameron and stood in her light.

"House," she said simply.

"Come eat," he said in a voice that told you he knows more than you think.

"How much food did you get?" she said looking up.

She counted a little over ten boxes of chinese food and her mouth almost dropped. House followed behind her and pulled out a seat next to her to ensure she couldn't spit food into a napkin when he wasn't looking. Wilson sat across from them. Cameron had changed out of her scrubs and was wearing a pair of tan dress pants and a black, v-neck fitted shirt. Cameron opened a bottle of water that was on the table and then she put some food on her plate, as House looked on. As they ate, Wilson watched House watch Cameron as she stared disgustingly at her food. He noticed every two small bites of food, she'd take a huge gulp of water.

"So, Cameron!" House started up and already she was holding her breath, "Any new guys in your life, or are you still hung up on a certain hunky, clever doctor like myself? Oh, are you still sleeping with the brit?"

Wilson rolled his eyes, "House"

"Actually, yes. I have been seeing someone. No it's not the 'brit' or the 'aussie' and for that matter, he's not a doctor," she said drinking some more water.

"Well good for you!" Wilson smiled

House, however was not as happy for her. At least when she was sleeping with Chase, it was easier for him to spy on them and could always coerce the details out of him. Now she was dating someone outside of the hospital, someone he'd never met.

"You spend all your time in this hospital, how the hell do you have a social life?" House barked, looking down at his food.

"His name is Christopher. I met him at the bar downtown one night when I was having a girls night out with some friends," she stated.

"How long have you been seeing him for?" Wilson, who was a hopeless romantic, asked.

"Going on about seven months, now".

"He's an idiot," House said seemingly out of nowhere.

"What?" Cameron said jerking her head to look at him casting an evil stare.

"You spend anywhere from sixteen to eighteen hours a day here, five to six days a week. You're never home and when you are you have just about enough time to sleep before the next day starts all over again. I have never seen him step foot into this hospital so that makes him an idiot for not spying on you or snooping around the hospital to see if you have some skeletons in your closet, oh let's say the janitors closet-" he said in his usual 'I know everything fashion'.

"House, what's it matter to you? You've made it clear you have no interest in me but yet when something in my life changes you feel you've earned the right to be the first to know? For your information, the guy i've been seeing is a police officer who works just as much as I do. We don't have to be with each other every moment to feel committed to our relationship and we have a little thing called trust. He knows me-" she said angrily as she stood up and walked over to her old desk and picked up her belongings.

"He knows you?!" House said almost shouting as he stood up to, "oh please Cameron, if this guy knew anything about you he'd know that you have an eating disorder and wouldn't let you work yourself to death!"

Wilson's jaw dropped. Cameron stood almost frozen for a moment before she proceeded to pick up her things. She picked up the reports and her cup of coffee she'd made earlier and drank as much as she could in one swallow. She walked towards House and threw the reports on the table behind him.

"Do your own damn reports, House!" she walked around the table, "sorry Wilson. Goodnight".

She walked as fast as she could to the nearest bathroom as she started to feel her food rising fastly. She'd barely made it into the stall when she expelled the contents of her stomach, which just contained the recently eaten Chinese food and water. When she was done, she threw some water on her face and wiped it off. For the first time in days, she looked at herself in the mirror.

(flashback)

"You know, i've arrested pregnant prostitutes who have a better body than you!" Christopher screamed at her.

"I'm sorry, Christopher! I don't have any time to go to the gym, I-" she pleded with him, tears running down her cheek.

As she went to walk into the bathroom to wash off her face, Christopher grabbed her from behind, throwing his arms tightly around her ribs. She screamed out in pain and felt as if any minute her ribs would all just break. He put his other hand around her throat and she choked out breaths.

"Chris-" she tried to get out.

"God, look at you! I can barely get my arms around you. You looking like a friggin cow!"

He threw her to the ground and kicked at her ribs a few times hard but not hard enough to break them. He was smart, he was a cop afterall. He knew if she went into work with broken ribs, her collegues would be suspicious. He also knew Allison would be too afraid to ever document his abusings, like taking a photo of every bruise he'd given her. She was too fragile physcially and emotionally to fight back. So she had to comply to his wishes. He told her she was too fat, so that she needed to lose weight. He wanted her to be skinny, like the models he saw in Victoria's Secret. First he said that she needed to weigh at least 115 within two weeks. Then he changed his mind and told her that if she wasn't down to 110 in the next few days she'd be in for trouble. He even weighed her to make sure she was where he wanted her to be. When he was all done with her, he'd go sit on the couch and she dragged herself to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. His words had sunk in and she felt dirty and worst of all, she thought she was obesely overweight. She'd never thought that before but he seemed to hypnotize her into thinking she was.

(End Flashback)

Cameron walked out of the bathroom feeling lighter than she had before. She got to the elevators and waited for them to arrive. When they did she got in and just as the doors were closing, something got in the way. The door opened to show House standing there with his coat and backpack, leaving for the night. He stared at her for a moment and she just looked at him with hatred. He got in and stood behind her. The doors closed and she stood very still. He watched her from behind. Just as the elevator number one lit up, he finally spoke up.

"I'm sorry," he simply said.

The doors opened and she didn't leave right away. After hesitating she looked down on the ground, enough so he could partially see her face. She'd been crying, he noticed from the red veins in her right eye. She walked out of the building as House slowly trailed along.

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a/n: first fanfic on here, let me know what you think


	2. Chapter 2: Shattering The Silence

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Two

There was nothing Allison Cameron enjoyed more after a long day of work than to take a hot, bubble bath. Lately, however, this routine she'd practiced for so long had become a tedious task. When she undressed, her light skin was anything but that with deep purple, black and blue spots. Mostly around her rib cage and her lower stomach, the bruises were a reminder of what he wanted her to be. She'd never thought of herself as "overweight" but then again, she'd never seen herself through anyone else's eyes. She lowered herself into the hot water and could feel her body shiver. She rested her head against the back of tub and closed her eyes.

(Flashback)

"He knows you?!" House said almost shouting as he stood up to, "oh please Cameron, if this guy knew anything about you he'd know that you have an eating disorder and wouldn't let you work yourself to death!"

(End Flashback)

Her eyes bolted open. House was right. He was always right for that matter. He should've gotten a degree in pyschology because he could read just about anyone like a book. He did hate reading though. She gently scrubbed her body as she thought about where her life had gone in the last few months. The last time she had stepped on the scale she clenched as she saw she weighed 111 lbs. The last time she could remember weighing that little, she was a pre-teen. She was in her early thirties and this just wasn't right. She knew what would happen if she didn't obey Christopher's rules. He'd beaten her more than once and he was a cop so even if she did leave him, he'd find her.

She heard her front door open and closed her eyes. He was home. She watched as the bathroom door slowly opened and a big guy with visible muscles walked in. He stood around six foot two with brown hair and brown eyes. At first glance, he looked like the perfect gentlemen. For that matter, he had been. However it was first glance. Two weeks into dating she'd notice a possesive behavior in him. At first she passed it off as him being the "House" type, where he'd tear you down for no reason and didn't like to share. He was no House though.

"Hey, baby. Long day at work?" he said gently as he sat besides the tub, holding her hand.

"It wasn't so bad," she said trying to not put her work before his. "You?"

"Catching criminals, as always," he chuckled. "How about I make you some dinner and we can curl up together on the couch and watch a movie?"

"Sounds good," she hesitated.

"Alright," he said as he kissed her on the forehead and made his way back to the kitchen.

One minute he was cooking dinner for her so she could relax the next he was beating her senseless because she wasn't at an "acceptable" weight.

A few moments later, she lifted her body out of the tub, wrapping a towel around her. Looking down at the scale beside her, she didn't want to get on and see how much she weighed. She was a doctor and knew what she was doing was dangerous to her health but she also knew not doing it could be just as dangerous. At least this way, she was in control. Stepping on the electronic scale, bright red numbers glowed reading '108 lbs'. She sighed, hoping maybe that would be enough to please him. She got dressed and walked into the living room where he had already set up dinner for them.

"What did you make?" she asked throwing a blanket over herself as he poured some wine.

"Steak and mashed potatoes, for myself. For you," he looked down at the plate as he handed it to her, "steamed vegetables".

"Oh," she said as she looked down at a few peices of vegetables.

"How do you expect me to hold you at night with all that stomach fat?" he said calmly.

She didn't answer to this and just ate as she was told. When he was done he said he was going to sleep and that since she was "so fat" she needed to sleep on the couch because he wanted room to move around. He took her blanket with him into the bedroom and shut off the heat to the living room as he left. It was a cold, winter night and she was left shivering on the couch. She had no choice but to wake up every hour to stretch out her limbs so she wouldn't be in pain the next morning.

When she woke up the next morning she could hear the bathroom sink running and knew that he wouldn't allow her to use the bathroom to get ready. The morning and night, for that matter, were all about him. He was getting ready, so she couldn't. She went into her bedroom and picked out some clothes and her bag. She left a note for him on the table saying she'd gone to work and with that she left. She walked out to the car rubbing her eyes, realizing she hadn't put any makeup on because it was in the bathroom cabinet. Dark circles shadowed her eyes and she knew she'd be attracting unwanted attention today. She got into her car and looked in the mirror.

"It could be worse," she said to herself. "There are people out there who are worse off. No point in complaining".

This is what she told herself on the mornings after he would hurt her or put her down. Technically speaking, it was true, there were worse people off, but she was going through this and it was pretty bad. She saw no use in complaining about it though, because she didn't have the strength to leave him.

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House stood on his office balcony, leaning heavily against the wall. On the other side of the partition, Wilson walked over to him.

"You gonna talk to her?" Wilson asked casually hoping his friend would come to his senses.

"Oh, I was hoping you could slip fun bags the note I wrote for her. I'm too embarassed and nervous to give it to her myself!" he exclaimed like a little school boy.

"House! Be serious for a minute! This is Cameron, we're talking about. Smart, beautiful, Cameron! You remember her? The woman you secretly want, but won't admit it?"

"I don't want her," he looked away.

"If only you could step outside your rude, miserable self, you could see what everyone else sees when you look at her,"

"She's pathetic," he said simply.

"Well at least she doesn't drown her sorrows in vicodin and scotch and make everyone around them as miserable as they are".

"Oh, you're talking about me!" he winked an eye and smiled walking away.

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As had been his custom for the past couple of week he stood behind the nurse's desk, out of the way but not out of sight. What was out of sight was Cameron. At first he thought maybe it was because she was standing sideways and was so skinny she was nearly invisible for a minute, but she really wasn't there. He walked over to the nurse who was sitting behind the counter.

"Where's Dr. Cameron?" he gruffed.

"Haven't seen her all day. Check the clinic," the nurse directed him without ever making eye contact.

"Oh great," he rolled his eyes.

He hated the clinic more than anything and knew there were people, namely Cuddy, he wanted to avoid seeing there. She would yell at him and force him to see patients, which he was never in the mood for. He took a deep breath before opening the clinic doors and quickly walked to the counter.

"Signing in?" the nurse asked.

"Ha, that will be the day. Where's Dr. Cameron?" he felt like a broken record.

"Exam room three," the nurse signed.

The nurses in the clinic had a pool going to see who could get House to voluntarily sign in for clinic duty on time. As of yet, no one had succeeded and the pool was up $600. Limping over to the exam room he wasn't going to bother knocking and having her reject him coming in. He threw open the door dramatically and Cameron jumped and her eyes went wide. She hoped House hadn't noticed, but nothing got past him.

"Busy!" she said attending to her patient's symptoms.

"My head hurts, all over!" the older woman said to Cameron.

"Show me where," she said gently.

The lady pointed to the top of her head and before she could take her hands down House walked over and stood beside Cameron, in front of the patient.

"Oh so it hurts here?" he asked before pressing on her sinuses.

"House!" Cameron objected.

"What the hell?" the woman asked.

"Your sinuses are blocked. Take this and you'll be fine. Get out!" he said writing down a name of some medicine on Cameron's scrip and handing it to the woman who gave him a dirty look and walked out.

Cameron tried to follow her patient but House blocked the doorway. She momentarily had a flashback to when Christopher had done the same thing before punching her. She flinched, then she opened her eyes and clenched.

"Unclench, Cameron. When you clench, I clench and it's this whole thing-"

"What do you want from me!" she screamed.

Right to the point, House thought. Wow, he had changed her in the time she worked for him.

"Wilson wanted me to apologize for what I said last night-"

"But?"

"I'm not going to. I wasn't wrong. You smelled like vomit in the elevator last night".

"I don't have to explain myself to you".

"You do if you ever want to leave this room," he said sternly, his blue eyes burning a hole in her skin. "Or, if you don't want to tell me what's been going on, there's a scale in that corner, let me weigh you".

"Screw you," she squinted her eyes and sat in her chair. "If you're trying to play a game, House, then fine. I'm sure it won't be long before Cuddy gets word you stepped in the clinic and she'll be checking up on you".

He looked down for a moment, almost defeated. "I guess i've never mentioned what a great ass you have".

She looked at genuinely disgusted, "Don't try and pyschoanalyze me, House!"

"It'd be a shame for you to lose that because you don't eat," he pulled a chair in front of the door and he sat down in front of her. "My guess is you're not eating but you do soley for the purpose of having something to throw up. You stand around five foot six-ish and your healthy weight would be 118 and i'm guessing you're really at hmm, i'll go with 105". He studied her.

"108!" she yelled, "I weigh 108, it's disgusting. I'm disgusting". She had tears in her eyes as she got all worked up. "My own boyfriend doesn't want to touch me because i'm so fat!"

She stood up fastly and nearly lost balance because she was so dizzy. With her busy schedule she didn't really have a chance to stay properly hydrated which caused alot of her dizziness. She rested one arm supporting her body on the table and tried deep breaths.

House got off his chair and limped towards her, "gee, House, you were right! My boyfriend doesn't know me at all!" he mimicked her in a high pitched voice.

"I never said that," she said out of breath.

"Look at me," he paused, waiting for her to comply when her soft brown eyes met his hypnotizing blue eyes. "If he knew you, he'd know that you're sensitive. You take criticisim personally. Or maybe he does know this and he just doesn't care".

"You do the same thing," she said heartlessly.

"But I do care-"

"House!" yelled an angry Cuddy from the other side of the locked door. "Are you in there scaring off patients?!"

House stared at Cameron for a moment longer and she straightened herself out, wiping away her tears. He walked over to the door and unlocked it letting Cuddy rush in.

"House? What have you been- Cameron?" she looked confused. "What's going on here?" she asked suspiciously.  
"Jealous I didn't call you to come play doctor with us?" he smirked and walked away.

Cuddy stood there for a moment in amazement that she lets him get away with so much before walking back to her office. Cameron went and grabbed another file from the nurse's station and went back to work. She was moving slowly, because of the pain of her bruises. In a moment of weakness she may have admitted she had an eating disorder but she'd be damned if she admitted it was because she was getting beaten into it.

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a/n: Thanks for the reviews, I see alot of you added this story to your alerts, which I take to be good news. Next chapter will be mainly Hameron, so look for that in the next few days =) 


	3. Chapter 3: Sweet Innocence

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Three

Her legs nearly gave out as she reached the couch in the lounge. She decided, for now, to hide out in the OB/GYN lounge because although there wasn't a hiding spot in the hospital that House wasn't aware of, she had bought herself a few moments of silence. Her body felt numb. She gently rubbed her stomach and ribs to make sure her body was all intact. She closed her eyes and for a moment she felt as if she were at her apartment and Christopher was forcing her to sleep on the couch again. That thought quickly passed when she heard the tap of a cane rythmatically getting closer before the door swung open. She opened her eyes and standing in front of the couch, stood House.

"Oh a quickie?" he smiled, lifting an eyebrow and popping a vicodin. "Well I could drop my pants, then move on to your clothes and go from ther-"

"Stop," she said tiredly. "I'm tired".

"Boo hoo, Cameron. Suck it up! You're making yourself out to be the victim when the truth is you're doing this to yourself. You think you can starve yourself, come to work and think no one would notice? You think I wouldn't notice?" he said as she stood up in front of him.

"I'm not going to play your game, House! I'm not going to feed your curiosity because I know all you want is to find out why i'm doing this-"

"Yes! I'm a doctor, I make people better! They didn't give me my own office for shits and giggles!"

"You're a diagnostician. You diagnose people. You already know what's wrong with me".

"Cameron," he said in a much softer tone, "If I really knew what was wrong with you, I wouldn't be chasing you still".

"Chasing me? House, you've been following me around work for the past two weeks! You didn't think i'd notice you, of all people, coming down to the ER every day?"

"If I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have notice the sweet and innocent Cameron withering away".

"Is it possible for you to just bite your tongue and not say what you think?"

"Eat something- anything. Just enough so I know you're getting some nutrients and you won't starve to death,"

"No," she said sternly, crossing her arms.

"Come on, you know me. Do you think i'm above force feeding you?"

"If you force feed me, I'll tell Cuddy you hit me," she said calmy with a distinctive hint of anger in her voice, he looked at her dumbfounded. "She'd believe me too. You've hit patients, you hit Chase, I couldn't have been too far behind".

"There'd be no proof!" he said standing frozen.

Without thinking, Cameron put both hands on the bottom of her shirt and lifted it to right below her chin. House couldn't look away and it wasn't her lacey black bra keeping his attention. It was the black and blue marks all over her stomach that kept his eye. Her eyes burned his skin as he stared at her frail body. His anger boiled. She put it shirt back down and gave him one last look before walking out.

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a/n: I'm not use to writing stories in order. When I get a good idea I write it down and work around that which is why some chapters might take longer than others to get up. Also, i'm not a fan of reading my own work, I usually just read the last paragraph of the previous chapter before I begin writing the next. I will try and make sure that wherever a chapter ends, the next one will begin. Thanks for reading, sorry the chapter is so short but like I said I jump around when I write, which is good news for chapter 4 which is almost complete. 


	4. Chapter 4: Midnight Serenity

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Four

She eased herself in the hot water of her tub. Scrubbing the loofa over her body gently, she mentally kicked herself for showing House how vulnerable she really was. She was sipping on her wine when she heard her phone vibrating next to the tub. She wiped her hand off on the towel and picked it up. It was Christopher.

"Hi, sweetie" she said as lovingly as she could.

"Hey, baby. What are you doing?" he asked

"I'm just in the bath tub,"

"Mhm," he answared. "Wish I was there with you."

She chuckled, "next time".

"I'm not coming home tonight. Me and some work buddies are going down to Atlantic City to blow off some steam for a few days,"

"Oh," she smiled to herself. "Alright, well, have fun!"

"Don't forget to make sure the doors and windows are shut at night, alright? There's pepper spray in the bedroom dresser if anything happens," he sounded protective for once.

"Alright, bye," she said wondering why he'd never told her before that he kept pepper spray in the house.

She put the phone back down and smiled to herself. She could sleep in her own bed for once. She could do her laundry without comments that her clothes were huge. She could go on her computer without having him look over her shoulder to see what she was doing. She felt so liberated. Back in her bedroom, she put on some dark blue sweat pants and a gray tank top and curled up on the couch with a blanket, some more wine and the t.v. remote. She threw her thin hair up into a messy bun and just relaxed. Something she hadn't been able to do in her own apartment for months. She was almost alseep when she heard a familiar knock at her door. She rolled her eyes, hoping when she opened the door, it wouldn't be him. No such luck.

In his work clothes, his blue jeans, red shirt and leather motorcycle jacket he stared at her. She didn't even try to ask him to leave, knowing very well he wouldn't. She just turned around and went back to the couch and resumed her comfortable position. He walked in and closed the door behind her. He watched her for a moment before sitting down next to her.

"Fall down the stairs?" he asked sarcastically, she nodded no. "Get stuck in an elevator door?" she nodded no again, "You're not even going to try to lie to me or make up an excuse?"

"You're a world-renowned diagnostician. You're alot of things, stupid, is not one of them," she whispered.

An uncomfortable silence filled the space between them. House knew he needed to tread lightly. He popped some vicodin and and sighed. She brushed some falling peices of her hair behind her ear and stared intently towards the T.V.

"Has he ever broken anything? Any of your bones, I mean?" he asked gently playing with his cane.

She felt on the verge of tears, so all she could do was nod no. It was so out of character for House to be this nice to her, this gentle, knowing that he actually had boundaries and for the first time, he was afraid to break them. He moved a little closer to her and picked up her hand in his.

"Are you doing this because of him?" he finally asked as he rubbed his thumb along her hand.

"When we first started dating," she hesitated as tears streamed down her cheeks. "It was fun, you know? For the first month two months he treated me like my husband use to. He put me first, held my door, took me out."

House just stared at her, still holding her hand.

"Then, one night he came home from work. He had been part of a police detail that was protecting some of the models from that big fashion show they had a few months back. I found out he had been sleeping with one of the models. That's when it started. He told me that for him to want to be with me, i'd needed to lose weight. He wanted me to be the same size as that model he'd slept with."

He sat there and listened, really listened to her. At the same time he could feel his free hand form a fist. He wanted to hurt the guy who hurt her.

"I had cooked him dinner that night, which he ended up throwing against the wall. That was the last time I was allowed to eat whatever I wanted. After that, he cleaned out the kitchen and he started weighing me every night. If I lost weight, I was allowed to eat salad or bread. If I gained weight, he'd beat me. Or sometimes, when he's really angry he just beats me anyways,"

She threw her hands over her face and cried so hard. House scrunched his eye brows and he pulled her against him while she cried. She'd never told that story to anyone before. After a few minutes she was able to regain her posture.

"Sorry, I know you don't do well with emotional inticmacy and all-" she said getting up

"I'm not good at expressing my own feelings. I can listen to you express yours," he was uncomfortable but this was Cameron after all. "Where is he tonight?"

"He went to Atlantic City for a few days with some buddies," she wiped the tears from her face.

She walked towards her bedroom and without thinking, he followed her. He wasn't sure what he was going but he knew she needed him. He wanted to see them, the bruises. She didn't want him to see her like this, so weak and fragile. Hesitantly, she unzippered her pants and slid them off, kicking them off to the side. Slowly and painfully she lifted up her shirt over her head, careful of her bruised ribs. Standing before him, clad only in her lingerie, she stood self-conciously waiting, for what she didn't know. She avoided his eye contact after he scanned her body a few times. He got up and gently limped a few steps towards her. His striking blue eyes bore into her skin as she still tried to avoid eye contact.

"Look at me," he said almost in a whisper putting his finger underneath her chin lifting her gaze up. "I think you're beautiful".

"No-" tears were welling up inside of her eyes.

"Yes. Cameron, i'm not messing around with you. You were always beautiful the way you were and then some guy came along and made you think otherwise. Any other guy would show you off to the world, loud and proud," he locked eyes with her. "Like how the wombat agreed to sleeping with you in the hospital, I mean what more of a public place could he get?" he ended with a joke as always.

She chuckled, then sniffled, "can you do something for me?"

"What's that?"

"Can- can you just hold me for a little?" she asked timidly.

He smiled, "come here".

They walked over to his bed and he got in and she right after. After wrapping her body, which was covered in goosebumps, with a warm blanket he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She closed her eyes and fell asleep almost instantly. She'd never felt so safe before. He'd never been so happy to share his bed before. His smile nearly faded as his hand caressed a very pronounced rib cage and prominent hip bones. He closed his eyes. She wasn't even close to winning this battle yet. He didn't know which problem to tackle first: the abusive boyfriend who could easily take her out in one punch; or the eating disorder which was close to killing her. After an hour of writing on his white board in his head he came up with a decision. In order to save her, they needed to get her boyfriend out of the way. She wouldn't be hurting herself if it wasn't for his influence. House knew he couldn't control her boyfriend, but given the right moves he could control her eating disorder. So all he needed to do was get some help, removing him for the picture. 


	5. Chapter 5: What He Says

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Five

She woke up the next morning in a daze. She felt like she was buckled into her bed, forgetting who was sharing the bed with her. A small smile arose on her face when she realized who it was. House. Surprisingly, he had stayed the whole night. It was nearing time to go to work so she went about her morning routine, as always. She wasn't about to wake up House, very well knowing he wouldn't be going to work for hours. She wrote a note and left it where she'd been laying next to him and drove herself to work. As she filled out some evaluation reports, she couldn't help but think of House. He slept in her bed last night. He knew about the bruises and about her not eating. That's when it occured to her: she'd become his mystery again. And that made her angry.

Back at Cameron's apartment, House was finally waking up to find a small note where Cameron's frail body had been. "Gone to work, see you there. - Cameron". Short and sweet, they both knew that had the note been any longer he probably would've lost interest. He rolled on his back and looked at her ceiling for a moment. He sighed loudly, when he came up with an idea. Popping some vicodin, he reached for his cellphone and dialed the number of his private investigator friend. After a short conversation, he hung up and went to the kitchen to look for food. Not suprising, there wasn't much except for in the freezer he found some food clearly marked "Chris". There was a knock on the door and House checked the peephole before opening.

"Nice to know you know what the word 'urgent' means," House gruffed. "Did you bring it?"

"Yeah, yeah I got it. So, what are you, a peeping tom now?" the man asked.

"No, I think my, uh, friend is being abused and I need evidence because I know she won't go to the police herself" House responded.

To him, it sounded like a very good idea but he knew when Cameron found out he was sticking a camera in her house, without her knowledge, she wouldn't be very happy. He would deal with the consequences of that when it came. The P.I. discreetly hid the camera in the living room, in a spot that could view the whole room. Popping some more vicodin, he made sure her boyfriend wouldn't be able to spot the camera and when he was satisfied, he headed off to work.

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"I tried to call you last night but you never answared. I wasn't aware you had other friends," Wilson joked as he ate his lunch as House picked off his plate.

"Hooker night," he answared simply.

"I wasn't aware that immunologists turn into hookers at night," he stated matter of factly.

House scrunched his eyebrows, "No, I have a thing for waitresses. They know how to serve me the best".

"Give it up, House. I ran into Cameron this morning and she said you stopped by last night".

"Did she say anything else?"

"Noooo," he dragged out, curious as to what else happened. "Something you want to tell me?"

"It's two girls for the price of one down at Zachary's," he stated before walking away.

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Cameron scurried around the ER as alot of people from a five car pile up were brought in. She could hear her stomach rumbling and it'd been about 36 hours since she'd eaten. After about an hour, the ER had calmed down she recieved a page. She looked at the message, "SOS, House". She rolled her eyes. He probably just lost his gameboy, she thought. She decided to take the stairs so she'd burn some unwanted calories. Climbing the stairs was torture, she could feel her bones about to break. After about ten minutes she finally made it to the glass doors and opened the door to the room.

"Carbuncles and impetigo," House stated as Cameron scrunched her eyebrows.

"Consult?" she said nearly out of breath.

"Cellulits, boils and sty hm," she read the file out loud.

House stared at her intently as he leaned on his cane. While she looked at the file, he gave her a once over. She was wearing her heavy white lab coat, as always and some scrubs. He couldn't really tell what her body looked like, since her clothes were baggy. The only noticeable thing was the bags under her eyes, which seemed painted on because they were there every day.

"MRSA," she then stated simply then looked at him. "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"Have you eaten today?" he asked gently.

She looked away, "No".

He hesitated, "after work, how about I take you out to dinner," he asked slowly.

"You don't have to be nice to me, House".

"It's been coming naturally to me, lately," he said without thinking. "Look, Cameron. I just need to know that you're getting some sustenance in you,".

"Fine," she gave in. "I'll see you after work. And next time if you want to talk, just ask. You don't need to pretend you need a consult for that".

Thirteen, Taub, Kutner and Foreman walked in the room and sat down at the table. They started spewing off medical terms to House about their patient. Cameron quietly left, but not unnoticed.

"What did she want?" Kutner, the always curious one, asked.

"Consult," he stated simply.

"Is it just me or does she look- different to anyone?" Taub continued.

For once, House kept his mouth shut and didn't clue in everyone else, "Oh and it looks like you two won the jackpot! Split my clinic hours between to the two of you. Thirteen and Foreman, um, keep busy but stay out of the janitor's closet," he gruffed and walked into his office for general hospital.

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a/n: Sorry it took so long for such a short chapter! I'm gonna try and update at least once a week. Look for the next chapter, when Cameron's boyfriend comes home.. duh nuh nuh! 


	6. Chapter 6: Old Friends & New Bruises

disclaimer: i don't own house and/or any of the other characters on the show.

chapter six

he couldn't sit still. even general hospital couldn't keep his attention today. he couldn't help but think of the night previous where he'd been lying in cameron's bed with her and how it felt undeniably right. house didn't want those thoughts in his head. he didn't want his feelings, whatever they were, to cloud his judgment in helping her get better. so he distracted himself. he played golf with his stress balls and cane, he set up dominos in the form of his thick medical books he'd never opened, sent a fake love letter from wilson to cuddy and then made his way to the cafeteria to steal food when no one was working. as he cased the selections the cafeteria was offering, he noticed across the room a certain blonde, well for that matter, two of them. cameron and chase, sitting, drinking coffee and laughing with one another. he was about to walk away when he saw chase's hand touch cameron's and that was enough to have him turn around and head towards them.

"...you know if you ever need anything, that i'd be there for you in a heartbeat," he could hear chase saying as he limped closer.

"i know you are, you always have been," she smiled gently.

"well if it isn't the homecoming king and queen. and chase, you do make a lovely queen, with every stand of hair in its own rightful place!" house announced as he sat down next to chase, picking off at his fries as chase rolled his eyes.

before either one of them could ask what house wanted, chase's pager went off. he was needed in surgery. he said goodbye to cameron and smiled reassuringly and told her to call him. he mumbled something that sounded like goodbye to house and ran off to the or. house studied cameron for a moment before she looked up and caught his gaze.

"another consult?" she asked

"no just pure noseyness this time. so what were you two talking about?" he asked in his 'i have to know' voice.

she just smiled at him and slowly rose, "i'll see you later, house".

later, in the locker room, cameron pulled her cellphone out of her coat pocket and saw a missed call and a voicemail. she dialed her voicemail and punched in her password. she opened the message.

"hey allie. it's christopher. just wanted to check in, make sure you're doing alright. well, i wanna hear from you, so call me. i miss you, bye".

she sighed for a minute and dialed his number. she didn't really want to call him but not calling would be much worse for her later. she put on her sweetest voice, as if she were reassuring a child patient that they'd be alright.

"christopher, hi, i just got your message. i'm doing well. i hope you and your friends are having a good time in atlantic city. i miss you too, see you soon".

she hung up quickly and threw the phone in her purse and grabbed her stuff to go home for the day. as much as she wanted to be alone with house again, seeing him wasn't worth the pain of eating. she tried to think of ways to blow off meeting him later, but he'd know she was lying. it was then she realized, she'd worked under house for three years. she was going to do to him what he did to cuddy, and that was hide. she thought of hiding out in coma guy's room but that was his sancutary. the clinic and er were both off limits too because he knew she actually liked working there. finally, she thought of the perfect place. in the children's oncology ward, she found an empty room and laid down on the bed behind the curtain. she held the pillow close to her chest and she could hear her raspy breath. she fell asleep pretty quickly, it'd be a trying few days and all she wanted was for people not to notice her. it wasn't long before she felt a little tug on her foot.

"cameron?" she heard a soothing voice ask. "cameron?"

her eyes opened very slowly and she was too exhausted to even lift her head up to look at the person. using her peripherial vision she made out who it was.

"wilson? what are you doing here?" she asked almost in a whisper.  
"hey you're in my corner of the hospital!" he joked, sitting on the edge of the bed in front of her. "you okay?"

"avoiding house," she said simply.

"good place to avoid," he said reassuringly. "i ran into him a few minutes ago he was looking for you".

"ugh," was all she managed.

"look, cameron. you know house. it will be worse if you avoid him. you're a strong woman. you can handle him." he said gently.

"i'm just too tired to right now, jimmy,"

for the first time, wilson got a good look at cameron. he noticed she was trembling a little, she had goosebumps. he thought house was crazy for noticing her blue tinted nails and her whispy hair, but when he looked at her, he noticed it too. he realized house was trying to do a good thing for once and help cameron, he didn't know why but he wanted to help house help cameron.

"i'll give you a b6 energy shot if you promise to go find house," wilson bartered.

she pondered for a moment. as of that moment, she didn't even have enough strength to get off the hospital bed, let alone make it home. she told wilson he had a deal and he went and got his supplies. he gave her the shot and waited a few minutes until she felt a little more awake.

"come on," wilson signaled. "i'll walk you to his office, i'm sure he's there".

feeling a little bit better, she and wilson made small talk as they made their way to his office. sure enough he was sitting in the dark by his little lamp throwing his stress ball in the air. wilson and cameron walked in.

"hey, house," wilson said simply.

at this point house would've made some rude comment about cameron turning sideways and being so skinny she was basically invisible which is why no one could find her but he bit his tongue. he got up at a suprising speed for a cripple whose known for his laziness.

"come with me," was all he said as he passed by cameron, leaving her in the chill of his wake.

house brought his motorcycle to work that day so he convinced cameron to let him drive hers, since he complained her driving sucked. the car ride was mostly silent, with the exception of his road rage. he pulled into a parking spot and she looked up at the sign.

"macdonald's?" she said disgusted.

"you know me," he said as they got out. "i'm cheap".

he ordered for the both of them. for himself a big mac meal in addition to the chicken selects and large coke. for her, two double cheeseburgers, a small fry and a large diet coke. he paid. they sat across from each other in the booth and he watched carefully to see how she was eating.

"greasy food, yum," she sarcastically said to outloud but to herself as she attempted to take a bite of her cheeseburger.

he could see the pain in her eyes as her whole body stiffed when the food made contact with her mouth.

"greasy yet delicious," he corrected her taking a huge bite from his burger. "so where were you?"

"when?" she asked confused, taking this time to stall from eating and taking large sips of her diet coke.

"where did wilson find you?" he asked waiting for her response as he impatiently tapped.

"i was talking to chase in the observation room, why?" she said not making eye contact.

he knew she was lying, but didn't let on, "you two seem a very friendly these days".

"we were always friendly, house. we worked together, we date and lived together and now we're friends. it's not uncommon for someone to befriend their ex," she said as she thought of him and stacy.

stacy and house could never be friends. they were either lovers or nothing. there was no middle ground for them. maybe that's why house had such a hard time believe that she and chase could remain on friendly terms.

"when someone befriends their ex it means one of two things: you're either still in love, or you never were," he said in a matter of factly way. "so which is it. do you still love him or did you ever?"

"house-" she started

"no, scratch that. are you in love with that sad excuse of a guy you call your boyfriend?" house very badly wanted an answar to this question.

as if pretending he had never asked her that question, she changed the subject. "i didn't realize how fast i drank that diet coke went through me. i'll be right back".

before he could protest her going into the bathroom so soon after eating, she was already in there. she ran into a stall with a plastic straw she'd grabbed and wasted no time sticking it as deeply down her throat as she could. she gagged a few times before her stomach was expelled. she knew the more she drank and the fast she did so, the easier it would be on the way up. she quickly cleaned herself up and threw a mentos in her mouth and returned to the booth. house studied her.

"i was almost proud of you for taking two full bites of your burger, but obviously that didn't stay down too long," he commented. "now do you see why i'm being cheap here? why spend alot of money on a meal you don't want and won't keep down?"

"house, i had to pee. sorry for not wanting to get a urinary tract infection!" she barked back.

as house drove silently back to the hospital to his bike, he thought of their date together, all those years ago. how awkward and uncomfortable it was for the both of them. he thought of how beautiful she had looked and how he was so nervous. how he had talked himself into making an effort to be kind and polite but ending up just being his asshole self. cameron sat there, staring out the window wondering where the house that had held her so securely the night before had gone. she wondered to herself why she would open up to him of all people. they got back to the hospital and house got out without so much as saying goodbye. she slide over to the driver's side and sped off towards her house. if house was trying to help her, he wasn't doing a very good job.

turning the key in her lock, all the lights were on and sitting in front of the television, was her boyfriend. she swallowed hard and walked in to greet him.

"hi, sweetie. how was atlantic city," she asked kissing him on the cheek.

"it was good. it was fun, but i'm sure it was nothing compared to the fun you had while i was gone," he voiced turned to anger.

"what are you talking about?" she said worridly.

"you come strolling in at 11 at night, while i've been sitting here for five hours, waiting for you to make me dinner!"

"i'm sorry christopher, i didn't know you were coming home. you didn't say you were when you left that message".

"yah, well maybe i thought you were cheating on me and came home early to catch you in the act. i mean, hell, i've cheated on you!" he said proudly.

a wave of shock and hurtness moved through her body, "what?!"

"did you just raise your voice to me?" he said getting up and walking over to her. "i said, did you just raise your voice to me?"

she knew what was coming no matter what answar she had gave and she chose to not lie, "yes. you cheated on me? after everything i do for you and give to you, you cheated?!"

she barely got out her words before he punched her. by this time her b6 shot was wearing off and her energy level was already fading but after the force from the blow she could barely move. she had put her final energy into throwing up her food she had nothing left in her. she laid on the ground, defeated. he kicked her twice before walking into the bedroom and locking the door. cameron slept on the floor that night. she wasn't really sure whether she lost conciousness or just fell asleep, but she woke up to the sun burning through her close eye lids. she noticed a note next to her hand and strained to reach it, even though it was really close.

"a real woman could handle physcial love. that was nothing compared to what i could do..."

she bursted into tears, which quickly dried after feeling the pain in her ribs returning with every intense sob. she couldn't cry, it hurt to much. after twenty minutes of crawling, she made it to her bathroom and got into the tub, filling it with steaming hot water. as the basin fill, she felt like such a hassle. she'd become a charity case to the point even house felt bad for her, which was hard to do. she didn't want the attention she was getting from chase and house and wilson. in her mind, she started hatching plans and thinking of different ways to fool everyone and maybe even herself into thinking she was okay.

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a/n: so sorry for the really long wait! i promised myself that once a week i would update and well that didn't work out because i got really busy. i thought i'd give you an extra long chapter today, but it turns out it's just about as long as the other ones =( chapters 7 and 8 are almost finished though and i do PROMISE for them to be up within the next few days.


	7. Chapter 7: I'll Scream Later

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Seven

She awoke to the annoying high pitched tone of her cellphone, mentally noting to change her ringtone later. One eye first opened the first and the second took a moment to warm up before fully opening. Without moving her body she searched her nearby surroundings for her cellphone while wondering when she managed to get out of the tub, put on clothes and make it to her bedroom in her current condition. She found her found underneath the pillow beside her.

"Hello?" she mumbled into the speaker.

"Cameron?" It was Chase. "Are you okay, did you hear what happened?"

"What?" she said closing her eyes, really confused.

"Kutner's dead. He committed suicide last night," he said anxiously.

"What?" she bolted up into a sitting position without relazing about her ribs and sore body. "Ow!" she gasped.

"Cameron?" Chase questioned after hearing her gasp.

"No, Chase. I'm fine, it's- Kutner? I can't-, no. I don't believe it!" tears began to form in her eye.

"You don't sound too good, do you need me to come over?"

"No, no. I just- I need some time alone," she lied and hung up without another word.

Her vision blurred behind the puddle of tears that wouldn't roll down her face. She lay back down when her eyes released the tears that were being held hostage. She cried in because she was in so much physcial pain but mostly she cried because of Kutner. He was dead. Sure, she didn't know him on a personal level, though the old team took the new team out for dinner once. Mostly, she thought about how it takes nine months to break into this world and in a swift second you can be gone. She tried to count how many times Christopher had brought her within an inch of death before. And there, clutching her abdomen, she vowed to leave Christopher. She didn't know how but she knew she needed to.

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Darkness had fallen upon the Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital. Sitting alone in the dark of his office, House stared at his watch. The same one Kutner had given him as a Christmas gift, though the team had vowed not to get him anything, each one caved. House knew Kutner had given it to him out of fear of his job but he still considered it a nice gesture, though he'd never admit it aloud. His whole life had been about solving puzzles, looking for clues to solving mysteries yet he hadn't noticed anything different about Kutner. A soft knock at his glass door disrupted his thoughts and he looked up. Cameron slowly inched her way forward to the chair in front of his desk and nearly collapsed herself into it.

"What did he do?" his angered voice managed.

He noted the light bruised eye and how it didn't open fully. Her oversized sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants did little to hide her frail frame. Her movements were slow, due to bruised bones. Her self-esteem and her pride was gone. Cameron was barely recognizable.

"I'm sorry," was all she could choke out.

Genuinely confused he started twirling his cane, "for..?"

"If you weren't so busy trying to get me to eat, to leave Christopher, you would've noticed something was wrong with Kutner and he could've been saved-" she said as she lost control and began to cry.

"The only person I blame for Kutner's death is Kutner. Cameron, suicidal patients have an agenda of their own. I'm pretty sure Kutner didn't wait until he realized you had an eating disorder to make sure my attention was diverted in order to get away with it,"

"I started thinking about him. Kutner. His death, it made me realize how close I am. So, i'm leaving Christopher,"

House looked at her, smiling on the inside. She was on her way back, or so he thought. He remembered the camera he'd placed in her living room and mentally noted to grab the tape as evidence for the police. At that same time, he remembered Christopher was a police officer and if Cameron was going to leave him she'd need a safe place to hide.

Standing up, House grabbed his cane and walked towards her, "First things first, we need to take a picture of the bruises".

Her body stiffened, "What-, why?"

"It's evidence, Cam. Get up," He said as he lightly grabbed her arm to gelp her.

House brought her down to the clinic and had her go into one of the rooms and lie down while he talked to Cuddy. She was doing paperwork in her office by lamp light when he interrupted her.

"House!" she said suprised, "how are you holding up?"

"  
I need you to give me a scrip for some pain meds,"

"No, House. Your vicodin habbit is enough for me to deal with, i'm not gonna add fuel to the-"

"It's not for me," he said pacing

"Oh, well who's it for? Your imaginary friend?"

"Ouch!" he said. "It's for-" he looked down and hesitated, "Cameron".

"What? What happened, is she okay?"

"She's in an abusive relationship. The guy's a real peice of work, he's left her whole body in black and blue. She's in pain for a while. She wouldn't admit it to anyone but she's finally asking for help-"

"She asked you for help?"

"Not in so many words. Look! Cuddy! It doesn't matter. She needs help, I happen to be here, you happen to be able to the dean of medicine, get her meds!" he started shouted and walked out.

On his way back he had paged Wilson, who'd been comfortably sleeping. House knew Wilson wouldn't be able to ignore and 'S.O.S. bring camera' page, even if it was from his eccentric bestfriend, who's known to lie to make things work in his own favor. While House gave Cameron some medication to help ease some of the pain, the physcial pain anyways, Wilson walked in with his camera. He nearly dropped it when he saw the state Cameron was in.

"Cameron!" he ran to her side, "House what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, it was her good for nothing boyfriend!" House said innocently with his hands in the air from the corner.

"I'll be okay, Jimmy. Thanks,"

"Now, get out Wilson! I have to take what could be construed as inappropriate pictures of Cameron in her underwear. Oh if only this were under different circumstances," he said as he pushed Wilson out of the room, locking the door.

House turned to look at Cameron and nearly froze. The way the dim light hit her face, the shadows and bruises combined and she looked like a broken china doll. He opened his mouth to speak, but before words could escape his mouth Cuddy barged through the door with a bag full of medicine in liquid and pill form as well as syringes. Her jaw dropped as she looked at Cameron. Cuddy rushed to Cameron's side and House still stood frozen by the doorway.

"Cameron? Sweetheart, you need to lie down," Cuddy said gently.

Cuddy thought about how Cameron had been the person new doctors aspired to be. How she always had time for every patient or doctor no matter how tired she was or how busy she was. Cameron slowly lifted her feet, with Cuddy's help and laid against the bed. She let out a gasp and a grunt as she felt her body connect with the cushion, which to her was zero comfort.

"We need to knock her out-" House started, finally out of his daze.

"No!" Cameron yelped, "No!"

"He's right. You'll be in less pain if we just knock you out for a few hours and monitor you closely," Cuddy added in as she opened her bag.

"You'll put me to sleep and i'll wake up with a feeding tube," she looked at House. "It doesn't matter to you if it's against my will, House, i've seen you do worse!"

She called him on that. He had planned on knocking her out and inserting a feeding tube. He mentally scratched that plan in his head and thought about a new one.

"Cameron," he said gently, in that voice he used that night in her apartment, "I promise you that if we knock you out the only thing we're gonna do is make sure you're not in pain. Cuddy's my witness and you know her, she's all about morals and ethics and feelings blah blah. So I promise no feeding tube and if I break that promise you can take my game boy".

She cracked a small smile when she heard him say she could take his game boy. Reluctantly, after a few more minutes of begging, Cuddy and House had convinced Cameron she needed to be knocked out before she went into shock from her pain. After Cameron's eyes were closed, they put her on a gurney and moved her into a more comfortable room than a clinic room. Her vitals were monitored closely as Wilson, House and Cuddy sat in her office deciding on a plan to get Cameron's boyfriend out of the picture.

"We could go to the police. We have the pictures of her bruises-" Wilson started.

"No, he is the police. Any cop in the area will look the other way once we say his name which will get back to him and get her into more trouble," House added.

"She needs to stay with someone he doesn't know. She could stay with me!" Wilson offered.

"He could easily find out that we helped her and track any of us down. He knows she use to work with me, he'll ask around and find out that you're my friend and that she let's me get away with anything in the hospital," House tapped his cane.

Cuddy began making a list of sorts for Cameron for when she woke up. A list of contacts she could get in touch with for abusive relationships and eating disorders. A list of help groups within the hospital. A potential list of places she could stay and so on. House and Wilson bounced ideas of each other as Chase knocked on the door. Cuddy motioned for him to come in.

"Hey, sorry for interrupting, I thought maybe I could help".

"Of course!" Cuddy said as he sat down.

"We're thinking of places Cameron could stay where her boyfriend wouldn't be able to find her," Wilson filled him in.

"What about a hotel?" Chase suggested and they all looked at him. "Yah, I mean i'll get a hotel in my name and she could stay there and we could rotate keeping an eye on her. She's not gonna be crazy for the idea, but we need to her hidden long enough so we can get her boyfriend a concrete room".

"I think the Brit's on to something!" House exclaimed.

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a/n: thanks for all the reviews and the messages telling me to write again. i had chapter seven written already, i must've thought it was posted already otherwise i wouldn't intentially of made you guys wait for a few months. so glad you guys are loving the story!!!! 


	8. Chapter 8: Beautiful Nightmare

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Eight

She was having a nightmare. She couldn't wake up. She couldn't move. She saw Kutner. He seemed so peaceful in his last moments. Like he knew what he was doing was right. She saw his grave site with a picture of him and flowers everywhere. Next to his grave site, however was a dug out empty grave. Allison Cameron was the name it read. A tear rolled down her cheek. She wondered if she had wasted so much time trying to please everyone, trying to please Christopher, to the point she was killing herself slowly and never realized it? Cameron promised herself that if she woke up, she was going to do it right. She wouldn't be the sweet and innocent woman everybody loved. She was going to be the person that had been forged from her recent experiences.

"Cameron? If you can hear me open your eyes!" she could hear a voice next to her face.

Her eyes jolted open when she felt the coldness of a wet cloth on her forhead. She blinked a few times to focus her vision and when she could see clearly, Chase was sitting by her side.

"Allison?" he said in a gentle, soothing tone.

"Chase?" she said breathing heavy, her small body now covered in sweat.

"Did you have a bad dream?" he asked as he helped her sit in and rubbed her back to try and soothe her.

She sighed, "I can't hide here forever. Christopher is a cop, Chase. Sooner or later he'll track the credit cards of people I work with and he'll find me here and then he'll come after all of you for helping me."

"When it comes to lying to the police and sneaking around, no one is better than House. He paid for the room in cash. If Christopher is watching us, all of us take a different route home everyday. We're keeping our eye out for trouble." Chase pushed back a strand of wispy, blonde hair from Cameron's face and secured it behind her ear.

She looked him in his eyes. She couldn't help but think back to when she and Chase had dated, however briefly. Sure, it started out purely as a sexual release, she did develop feelings for him. When it came down to it, Robert Chase was just as caring and polite as she was. She didn't need the guy version of herself, she needed someone who would fight with her, not physically of course, someone to argue with her, even if they both knew he was wrong, someone to who didn't have to try to be the right guy for her, he just was naturally. Someone like.. House. 


	9. Chapter 9: Gorgeous Chaos

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Nine

"I'm looking for an Officer Christopher Dellamont," House said in a british accent to disguise his voice as he tapped his fingers against the pay phone he held against his ear.

"Please hold," the woman on the other line had said to him.

"Hello?" a deeper voice came onto the line.

House partially smiled and hung up the pay phone and walked across the street. The security level at Cameron's apartment was less than standard and the old lady who lived across the hall from her easily mistook Houses' voice for Christopher claiming he was locked out. He made his way to her floor and found her spare key in the plant down the hall, a very Cameron-esque thing to do. Letting himself in, he went straight for her television. His P.I. friend had hidden a camera in one of the picture frames above the television. He disconnected the camera from the frame with ease. He then went to her Cameron's bedroom, a room familiar to him. Walking through the door frame, he paused for a moment, remembering when he had laid in the bed with Cameron by his side. He shook his head to get her out of his head and then proceeded to her night stand. He knew what most guys know, anything of importance to a woman is in her night stand. Cameron was no exception. He opened it and picked two things out, stuck them in his coat pocket and closed the drawer almost instantly. Obviously, he knew exactly what he was looking for and exactly where to find it.

Back at the hospital, House sat quietly twirling his cane while sitting in on a differential. He wasn't paying attention, mainly because he already knew the answar and knew it wasn't life threating, so he'd let his ducklings waste their time trying to figure it out.

"House!" Foreman said throwing a folder at him as he just looked up and lifted an eyebrow. "We're trying to save someone's life here, can you at least try and pay attention?"  
"Fine," House stood up and limped towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Foreman shouted as House closed the door.

"To save a life!" he shouted back without stopping.

A fierce knocking at Wilson's door left him no wonder who was on the other side. He walked in, not bothering to wait for an answar from Wilson. He plopped himsef on the couch and threw something on Wilson's desk.

"What's this?" Wilson said examining it.

"When Cameron left for work the other morning, I had my P.I. friend come over and install a camera in her living room, so I could try and catch her boyfriend in the act of hurting her."

"Does she know you have this?" Wilson said amazed.

"Do you really think she'd agree to me taping her?"

"True. What are you going to do with this?"

"Well, her boyfriend is a police officer, which basically rules out handing it over to them. Bring it to a lawyer?" House suggested. "I know of someone."

"Have you watched the tape?"

"No. I was going to but I don't know if I can watch someone do that to her," he responded honestly.

Wilson cracked a little smile. House had feelings. More specifically, House had feelings for Cameron.

"How did you get the tape back if it was at Cameron's?"

"I snuck in."

"Are you crazy? What if Christopher had come home?!"

"I called the police station from a pay phone requesting to speak to him and he answared, so I knew he wasn't home. I went in and out, it was fine."

House was secretly please with himself. He had a feeling Cameron wouldn't be too happy about secretly being recorded, but House had a tendancy to piss her off anyways. He pushed her buttons but no matter how hard he pushed her, she stuck around. 


	10. Chapter 10: Anger Was The Price Paid

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Ten

Cameron had fallen asleep again. Chase sat propped against pillows next to her watching a marathon of Desperate Housewives episodes, a guilty pleasure of his. He almost didn't hear the insistant knocking at the door he was so enveloped.

"Opened the damned door, Aussie!" House shouted through the thick wood.

Chase groaned as he had to change the channel so he wouldn't get made fun of and made his way to the door to let House in. Opening the door, House didn't bother to wait until the door was fully open to barge his way into the hotel suite. He saw Cameron's small body wrapped in a few blankets, she resembled a rag doll from his view. Chase sat at the table in the connecting room.

"How long has she been sleeping?" House asked as he dropped a bag on the table near Chase's arm.

"An hour at least. Where have you been all day?" The ever curious one asked.

"I contacted a lawyer, they should be here any minute."

"I'll go wake up Cameron," Chase said getting up.

House pulled his laptop out of his backpack and placed it on the table and stuck the disc of Cameron's attack in the side. He still hadn't watched it and wasn't sure if he was going to be able to watch it with her in the room.

"Cameron," Chase said quietly as he gently rubbed his hand along her arm.

"Hmm-," was all she responded.

"Wake up, Allison. House has a lawyer on the way. We need you to talk to them."

It took her a few minutes but she got herself into a sitting position. She was wearing a tank top and baggy sweatpants and House could barely look at her. Nearly every bone in her body was protruding through her skin. She looked exhausted with big bags under her eyes.

"I brought you some food," House explained to her as he set it all out on the table. "I didn't know what you'd want."

Cameron looked at House, who seemed to almost be avoiding eye contact. She picked up a bag of the sun chips he set out on the table and opened them as she sat down near his computer. House sat across from her and Chase sat next to her. They both watched on as she looked in the bag shaking around the chips and then took one out. She broke it in half and then in half again and ate the corner of the small peice she brought to her mouth. There was a knock at the door.

"Must be the lawyer," House assumed.

He lifted himself up and leaning heavily on his cane, he walked back towards the door and opened it. Making eye contact, he stood emotionless. Cameron looked up at the door but couldn't see who it was because House was standing in the way.

"Hi, House," a familiar voice drifted into the hotel suite.

"Stacy," was all he said. 


	11. Chapter 11: Damaged At Best

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Eleven

Sitting down at the round table, House took his spot across from Cameron and Chase and Stacy and her co-worker, Brent, sat down near House. As if on cue, Stacy and Brent lifted their briefcase to the table and took out some papers.

"Hi Cameron," Stacy said in her professional tone. "This is Brent, he'll be representing you. I thought i'd tag along and help out if I can."

Cameron shot House a look. At that moment, she would've rather have gone back and faced Christopher herself then sit in a room with Stacy. Sure, she didn't actually have a reason to hate Stacy but women were enemies until something made them friends. She wasn't about to befriend the woman who broke House's heart. House held Cameron's gaze as Brent went on about their course of action. After about twenty minutes, the group dispersed and while House walked out Stacy and Brent, Chase stayed with Cameron.

"How pissed are you?" Chase asked casually as he broke up some food in small peices for Cameron to eat.

"What do you mean?" she answared while eating the peices of food as he handed them to her.

"Please, Cameron. I know you better than you think. House just called the girl he use to love for years to come and help you."

"She's a lawyer, Chase." she said sternly.

While Chase fed Cameron at the table, House stood outside the door leaning on the wall, while Stacy did the same against the opposite wall.

"  
She looks terrrible," Stacy whispered.

"What, did you think the desperation in my tone was code for 'come over, let's bang'?"

"Grow up, House. She can't stay here."

"She can't go home!"

"You said her boyfriend is a cop. You don't think he's not going to be able to find her? And when he does, you know as well as I do, that it will be worse then! The longer she stays hidden, the angrier he gets!"

"I'm not sending her back into the lion's den!" he said nearly flailing his arms.

"House," Stacy said sternly, "she cannot stay here!"

"Then what do I do?"

"You've always been a genious, Greg. Think of something," she huffed and walked away.

House stood there, alone in the hotel corridor staring off at the wall. After a few moments, he walked back inside to see Cameron and Chase on the couch watching T.V.

"I gotta get going. My shift starts soon!" Chase said getting up and giving Cameron a peck on the cheek, which didn't go unnoticed.

Chase gathered his stuff that was strewn about the room and said a brief goodbye to House before walking out the door. House slowly limped over to where Chase had been sitting not long ago. Cameron sat with her arms tightly around her knees. House glanced over at her a few times and she would pretend to not notice.

"Looks like you and the wombat are getting close again," he said with a hint of anger.

"Looks like you're starting to become an ass again," she quipped.

"If you have something to say Cameron, then just say it!" he almost yelled fully well knowing where the conversation was headed.

"Stacy? You called Stacy to help me?!" she said in as loud a voice she could without breathing too heavily to make her ribs hurt even more.

"She's a lawyer, Cameron! She's not even going to be YOUR lawyer. I called and asked for legal advice on how to continue from here and she's helping. That other suit is going to be attending to you!"

"I thought you hated her?" she asked almost sadly.

"I thought you didnt!"

"Look what she did to you when you put your life in her hands, House".

"Touche," House said playing with his cane. "She isn't your medical proxy, she's only a lawyer helping out the lawyer who's going to be helping you".

"You told me that if you stayed friends with an ex, than either you were never in love," she looked at him coldly, "or you still are".

Cameron stood up as fast as her body would allow her and walked over to the bed and laid down. Throwing all of the blankets over her she curled up into a ball and tried her hardest to fight off tears. House stare off blankly thinking about her words. He knew he wasn't in love with Stacy. What he didn't know was why Cameron was getting emotional over the thought. He stood up slowly, walking over to the TV and shutting it off. He limped over to the door and locked it then shut off the lights as he made his way over to Cameron. He took off his coat and his shoes and slowly sat laid himself down onto the bed next to a curled up Cameron. He stared up at the ceiling and she held the blankets over her face.

"I'm sorry," he said so softly it almost came out as a whisper. "You were in trouble and you needed help. I thought," he stopped and hesitated, "maybe I could help you."

"I know," she choked out.

"You need to get better Cameron."

"I know."

"I want to help you get better. Stacy is merely a stepping stone to you getting better. Don't worry, i'll be there when we get to stomp over her to the finale."

She let out a small laugh which made House smile. It always amazed him how easy it was to make her smile. She coughed a little as she attempted to roll onto her back and then onto her opposite side, facing him. House rolled over to his good side, facing her. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"What are you doing here, House? You're never interested in the treatment. You're only interested in the diagnoses."

"Well if you die, Cuddy will force some other doctor to do my paperwork for me. You just happen to be my favorite peice of lobby art in the hospital. I don't want someone else taking your place," he said not thinking about his words. They were kind, something House was not.

"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or if you really just hate change that much that my death would inconveinance you, but thanks."

"Welcome," he sighed, "don't get all sappy on me, Cam. You should go to sleep, you need to build up some strength so tomorrow when I try and force feed you, you can try and defend yourself," little did she know, he wasn't actually joking.

Not listening to his previous statement as she was falling in and out of sleep she went began yawning out, "remember that night at my house? That night I asked you to hold me?"

He nodded and tried to not smile when he remembered, "yeah."

"I haven't slept that good in so long. Can you please just hold me again? It's hard for me to fall asleep if I don't feel safe-"

"And you feel safe when I hold you?" he was suprised, no woman had ever said that to him.

"Mhm," she could barely make out as she rolled over facing the wall and began to drift off.

House looked at her body for a moment before moving a little closer to her and pulling her towards him. He nestled his face into her wispy hair. He placed one hand on her stomach so he could try and monitor her breathing. House wouldn't admit it out loud but not only was he going soft for her but he hadn't slept well since the night at her house either. 


	12. Chapter 12: Magic Tricks

Disclaimer: I don't own House and/or any of the other characters on the show.

Chapter Twelve

She awoke to angry moans and banging. She groaned as she rolled over and through her blurry vision she could see House trying to open a can of something.

"Morning sunshine!"

"What are you doing?" she asked groggily.

"Making you breakfast. Come here."

When she got to the table he instructed her to sit in the chair. Having just woken up, she didn't question him and sat down in the chair he pointed to. He walked around behind her and painfully dropped to his knees.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Magic trick. Look up!" he said as if something was on the ceiling.

While she looked up trying to figure out what he was up to he quickly clicked two handcuffs together, both strapped to her ankles handcuffing her to chair she was sitting in. Grabbing her right wrist he placed another handcuff around it and connected it to the arm rest. He left her left wrist free.

"What the hell, House?" she screamed. "What are you doing!"

"I told you last night to sleep tight because you were going to need your strength to defend yourself when I tried to force feed you."

"You can't do that, it's illegal!"

House sat down across from her. He pained him to have to do this but this was the only way he could think to make her eat. Her ankles and right wrist bound to the chair, she tried to free herself with her left hand to no success. He pushed a plate of food in front of her.

"Start eating and i'll unlock a handcuff once you finish something off," he said seriously, his blue eyes staring through her.

Looking at her plate he had placed a can of heated chicken noodle soup, a bottle of V8, an egg white omelet he managed to score from the cafeteria and hash browns. "House, don't do this to me," she pleaded.

"I wouldn't have to if you ate like i've been telling you to do."

She looked him square in the eyes with anger, "I hate you for this."

He looked down disappointed for a moment and then back up at her, "I'd rather have you hate me, than have you be dead."

Cameron looked away from him. In her experience whenever House was being nice and this time she couldn't figure out his angle. Usually, he had something to gain. Sitting across the table, House held his gaze. He saw her expression change. She softened, he always could tell when she was about to give in to his demands. She picked up the spoon in front of her and started eating the broth from the chicken noodle soup.

I'm not trying to hurt you, Cam, he stated as he started picking at her hash browns. He was never able to watch someone else eat without eating also.

She didn't acknowledge that he said anything and just getting slurping the chicken broth. She turned the bottle of V8 around to look at the ingredients. House noticed this and took the bottle from her and ripped off the label and handed it back to her. Still she didn't acknowledge him. Before he could say anything else to her, there was a knock at the door. House stared at her a moment longer before going to the door to open it.

How is she? Wilson said barging through the door before House could fully open it.

You might not want to see her right now. She doesn't look too hot in the morning, you know, bed head, bad breath.

Wilson walked a little further into the room and nearly shrieked when he saw Cameron handcuffed to a chair. He ran over to her. She sat silent, almost mechanically slurping her soup.

Cameron? Are you alright? House! Did you do this to her? Wilson already knew the answer.

Are you not going to acknowledge the fact that I got her to eat? House said ignoring the question.

House, where are the keys! Wilson said anxiously walking back over to his friend.

You're not getting the keys and I'm not uncuffing her until she finishes that soup and drinks that V8, he said hitting Wilson with his cane when he tried to search House's pockets for the keys.

House! Hallway! Now!

Wilson dragged House into the hallway as he screamed, I'm a cripple! as loud as he could. He shut the door and threw his hands in the air.

You really hit a new low, House. You can't force feed her!

She asked me to hold her, he nearly whispered.

What? What does this have to do with the girl you have chained up in the living room!

I said okay, he couldn't maintain eye contact with Wilson anymore.

Again, where's the link to the chained girl inside? Wilson was getting frustrated.

She said she felt safe, he fiddled with his cane.

House! Uncuff her now! We can find another way to get her to eat!

I wasn't suppose to care about her.

Cuddy can admit her, put her in a program.

I wasn't suppose to fall in love with her, he looked away, staring off down the hall at nothing in particular.

I-, Wilson hesitated. Love her? I mean you love her? You love? He was shocked.

Don't rub it in, I feel shitty enough as it is, he tried to make a joke.

House- Wilson started to say but House walked away.

He limped back into the room to find that most of the soup Cameron had been attempting to eat was gone. Half of the V8 drink was also gone. He watched her for a moment and saw how pained she looked as she picked apart the egg white omelet. House stuck his hand in his pocket and retrieved the key. He couldn't watch her anymore. House handed the key to Wilson because he wasn't going to try to get back down on his knees, to unlock her his leg hurt enough from the first time. Wilson unlocked her ankles and her wrist and helped her up. Still she said nothing.

You okay? Wilson asked gently.

She just nodded. She walked back over to the bed and sat on its edge before slowly laying down. House stood silently across the room still watching her movements. Wilson stood bemused glancing back and forth from House to Cameron. House collected a few of his belongings from around the room while Wilson tried to get Cameron to talk to them.

I'm going back to the hospital, House said,

You should go too. I need some time alone, she directed to Wilson, finally speaking up, well whispering really.

Are you sure, Cameron? I wouldn't feel right leaving you here by yourself.

It's fine, Wilson. I've had a babysitter every minute for the last few days. I need a break from you all, she responded honestly.

After battling with his conscience for a few more minutes, Wilson finally gave into Cameron. Wilson told her he would came back later on to keep her company and he wasn't going to take no for an answer. House just watched their exchange silently, feeling a little jealous of the relationship Wilson had with Cameron but also mad at her because of the hold she had on him. He never really felt that anyone actually needed him around, until now. 


	13. Chapter 13: Coward

**Authors Note: **This next chapter might seem a little strange when you first start off reading it but I do promise that by the end of the chapter it will all make sense. It may seem as if you missed a chapter, but I assure you, you didn't miss anything. I'm writing it this way because I wasn't quite sure how else to integrate this semi-important part in the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own House or any of the characters, unless I made them up.

**Chapter Thirteen**

She jolted awake from a pain in her stomach and when she did, she didn't recognize her surroundings. The hotel she had been staying in for the past few days had ugly yellow walls and the room she was now in had white walls. Her eyesight was blurry and she started breathing heavy. She heard an insistent beeping to her left and the door flew open. Wilson ran in and sat on her bedside putting his hands on either side of her face.

"Cameron! Cam, you're alright! You're okay!" he tried to soothe her, "you're in the hospital. Cam, you need to calm down you're gonna give yourself a heart attack!" Her breathing slowed a little and Wilson held her hand and moved her hair out of her face.

"Hospital?" she asked slowly, "how did I end up in the hospital?"

He looked at her with sad eyes. He hesitated. He wasn't completely sure how to word what he was about to say without her having another panic attack. The last thing he needed was for her to rip out her stitches or have a heart attack.

"You don't remember anything?" Wilson scrunched his eyebrows and sighed.

"No, I don't. What happened?"

"After House tried to force feed you, you waited until he and I left and then you went back to your apartment-" he started saying and as he spoke, she began to remember as she had a flashback as he narrated it for her.

_Cameron had gone back to her apartment because she was tired of being a burden on her friends. She barely made it through the door when Christopher grabbed her by the shirt collar, pulling her inside the apartment and threw her to the ground._

_"Where the hell have you been you stupid slut?!" he wrapped his hand around her neck. "Were you off with another guy? You're disgusting!"_

_"Chris-!" she tried to choke out to no avail, he tightened his grip around her neck. "Please!"_

_He threw her to the ground again, kicking her back side. She cried out in pain. She crawled to the kitchen as he got something out of his pocket and she barely made it against the cupboards when he came up to her with something shiny in his hand. Before she knew what was happening, she felt a blow against her cheek and she nearly went unconscious when she felt something pierce her skin. He had stabbed her. She clutched her wound and curled up. She closed her eyes. _

"He took out a knife and-" she could hear Wilson saying.

"Stabbed me," she finished his sentence.

"You remember?" he asked concerned.

"Sort of. I remember him stabbing me and then it all went black."

"You don't know what happened after that?"

"Something else happened?" She swallowed hard.

He hesitated again, unsure of how to explain, "Chris had a gun. After you went unconscious, he had pulled it out and was about to pull the trigger when House showed up and hit him pretty hard, Chris hit the ground. House started to hit him with his cane to the point he broke it. He went to go help you and saw that you had been stabbed-"

"Oh god," she said under her breath.

"Chris woke up and House used your pepper spray on him. It didn't do much damage to him, he backed off for a minute or so but then he hit House and he went down," Wilson looked away for minute and then back up at Cameron. "Chris got a hold of his gun again and pointed it at you. House-," Wilson stopped for a minute. "House threw himself in front of you. House said something to the affect of 'shoot me, not her'-"

A tear slid down her cheek, "No," she gasped. "Is he-?" She choked out.

"Chris did shoot House. In the abdomen. Because he had been pepper sprayed his aim was a little off and the bullet nicked his abdomen. He has a pretty big gash on his side, but other than that he's fine. He was in the hospital for a day before he got released," he smiled reassuringly.

"The bullet didn't go through? It just hit his side? It didn't hit any organs or anything?" She was trying to fully understand what had occurred.

"No. I'm sure if House tells you the story he'll make the shooting much more dramatic than it actually was. But no, it didn't hit anything. If it was a quarter of an inch to the right it would've missed him completely. If it had gone through, it would've hit you too. It just landed in his side, barely in him. I'm sure it hurts nonetheless."

She smiled and chuckled through her tears, "He's alright though. What happened to Christopher?"

"When we came back to your hotel room, you were gone. We didn't know where you'd gone, but House knew where to check. When he got to your apartment door he heard you crying and called the cops who showed up right after he had gotten shot. He's going to prison for attempted murder, Cam. It's all over."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "it's over?"

Wilson and Cameron talked for a little longer about the events of the last few days before he said goodbye so she could get some sleep. She'd been unconscious for two days and weirdly all she wanted was more sleep. Wilson made his way to the diagnostics department where he was sure to find his brooding friend. Sure enough, sitting in the dark with a glass of scotch and his feet up on his desk. Wilson walked in silently and sat on the chair opposite House.

"She's awake," House said as more of a statement than anything else.

"How'd you know?"

"I went down there and I saw you two talking through the window," he said honestly much to Wilson's surprise.

"Why didn't you come in?"

He downed his scotch and poured another glass offering Wilson some and he declined, "I don't know."

"You can't avoid her."

"I know."

"She's going to want to see you when she's discharged."

"So I take it you told her what I did," House said in a way that made it sound like a bad thing.

"Anyone else would be proud of themselves for their self-sacrificing act. You punish yourself for it."

"I'm going home," he said standing up, leaving his glass of scotch and the bottle on the table.

Wilson watched as his friend picked up his coat and his backpack and walked out of the room silently. He couldn't understand why House was mad about what he did. House took the long way out of the building, making sure to travel past the ICU where Cameron was staying. He stood at a distance, where he'd stood earlier when Wilson was in with her. He could see her sleeping peacefully. He thought about walking in so he could sit with her. He thought about waking her up to look into her eyes and try to understand what she was thinking. He thought about it. And then he left. He got onto his motorcycle and went home. This time, he was the one calling _himself _a coward.


	14. Chapter 14: Lying Pains

**Author's Note: **I know the last chapter was a little weird but I didn't want to spend a lot of time dealing with Cameron's abusive ex boyfriend. I wanted to get this chapter up as soon as possible because House and Cameron have been building the tension up for a while, it's been a little bit of a tease. In the next chapter, House will recall his point of view of when he got shot.

**Disclaimer: I don't own House. If I did, Cameron wouldn't be gone. **

**Chapter Fourteen**

Dressed in black pants, comfortable flats and a pink button up, she hesitated as she got off the elevator. Finally making her way down the hall, she pulled her stringy, wavy hair behind her ears and she spotted her destination. As she approached the glass walls, she noticed the differential room was empty and a she walked a little further, she noticed her ex boss's office was not. Occupied by a single person, lounging at his desk, no doubt looking at porn on his laptop, he seemed completely enthralled at what he was doing. She took a deep breath as she pushed aside the glass door. House looked up with his bright blue eyes that she hadn't seen in a week. Cameron sat down in the chair across from his desk and he simply shut his computer to let her know she had his full attention.

He was the one to break the silence, "How are you feeling? Any pain?"

"I could ask you the same," she answered in almost a whisper. House looked down, looked to his right, anywhere but at Cameron. "House." She had his attention again.

"Why did you go back?" he said holding his gaze on her.

"To my apartment?"

"You were safe where you were," he said sternly.

"I didn't-" she paused, "want all the attention I was getting. I don't know how else to explain it." She rested her elbows on his desk and rubbed her face with her hands. "I didn't want to be babysat. I just wanted the whole thing to be over with."

"What better way to distract the attention from yourself than to run onto a mine field," House quipped and she could tell he was uncomfortable because he was either silent or made a joke. "No one would notice then!"

"I didn't know you would follow me!" she nearly yelled, "I didn't expect you to," she looked down sadly. "Why did you put yourself between me and the gun, House?" he looked up at her.

"I've been shot before, you haven't."

"Is that the only reason why?"

"Yes." House couldn't look at her as he lied.

She looked at him until he looked back at her, "I don't expect you to tell me you care about me, House. I just want to know why. The truth."

She could tell he wasn't going to say anything else and so she looked at him for a moment longer then slowly steadied herself to her feet. He noticed her black pants were baggier than they were suppose to be and her shirt couldn't hide her thin arms. She put her hand on the door knob and turned around.

"Wilson," she paused, "is coming over tonight. We're going to order in Chinese and watch some movies, if-" she hesitated, "if you'd like to come."

She waited a moment and still he said nothing, so she continued, "You saved me, House. I owe you more than I can give. Thank you."

She showed a small smile and then left. House sat there, as he had many times before, contemplating. He rubbed his leg, as it began hurting when he lied to her. That had never happened before. He popped a vicodin and continued to massage his thigh.

Later that night, Cameron got comfortable in some sweat pants and a sweatshirt as she was a little chilly. Wilson would be over soon with some Chinese food and movies so she cleaned up a little. She recalled coming home to her apartment after she got out of the hospital. Wilson, Cuddy and Chase had come over and cleaned the apartment up a little and got a professional floor cleaner to come in and remove the blood stains. Wilson and Chase fixed the broken coffee table in the living room and Cuddy used her womanly touch to replace the picture frames and other miscellaneous items that were broken or displaced. Cameron set out some napkins, plates, silverware and cups. It wasn't long before she heard a knock on the door. She walked over and opened it.

"Wilson, hi!" she said cheerily, always happy to see Wilson.

"Hi, how are you?" he asked genuinely. He hadn't seen her in about two days, though they had talked on the phone numerous times.

Wilson walked in with two bags of food and went to set it up on the table. As she was about to turn aways from the door, she heard another voice. She turned to see House standing in the doorway as well.

"You came," she smiled softly.

"Free food," he joked without smiling and pushed his way inside.

She followed House to the kitchen where he paused. He hadn't been there since the shooting. He had a flashback of himself and Cameron huddled in the corner on the edge of death. He quickly shook his thoughts away as they started picking out some food and placing it on their plate. They all sat on the couch and waited for the movie to start.

"What have you been up to, Cam?" Wilson asked as he twirled some noodles around his fork.

"Um, actually I've been searching for a new apartment."

"Really? I know a good realtor, if you need some help," he offered.

"That'd be great. I don't like staying here, too many-," she looked at House and then to the kitchen, "memories."

"You're staying around here, right?" House piped up.

"Of course, I can't leave this place. I love it here. Well, not here, but this town. I've actually started packing up some stuff already. I'm going crazy not working, so I figured I'd get a head start on packing."

"You're already packing?" House asked, though he shouldn't have been amused since he knew Cameron was highly efficient and a multi-tasker.

House looked at Cameron and couldn't help but stare at her. She was eating. Actually eating. Well, most of what was on her plate was healthy but he couldn't help but be amazed. She forked some food around but the majority of what was on her plate ended up in her mouth.

"I've packed some stuff that I don't use often, just getting it out of the way."

House sat reclined in a chair next to the couch where Wilson and Cameron sat. Wilson had been drifting off for the last ten minutes and Cameron was cuddled up with a blanket but watching the movie. House was wide awake. They all sat in silence watching the movie and when it was over, Cameron quietly got up so as not to disturb Wilson and took their plates to the kitchen and started running the water. House slowly got up and limped his way to the kitchen and stood behind Cameron. She didn't even know he had gotten up until she could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck.

"I lied," he said in whisper, mostly because he was standing so close he didn't need to speak any louder. She nearly dropped the plate in her hand when he spoke and could sense the space between them closing. "When you asked why I stepped in front of the gun, I lied to you. I do care. I didn't want you to hurt anymore." He said slowly and hesitantly.

Cameron turned and faced him, little tears forming in her eyes, "I didn't expect that," her voice cracked.

"I thought of something you can do to repay me for saving your life," his beautiful blue eyes were almost too much for her to handle.

"And what's that?" she whispered.

He moved his face closer and his mouth was near her ear, "just eat. Get better."

He moved away so he could face her and she was wearing a crooked smile. They heard Wilson groan in the other room, and quickly moved away from each other. House went to the table to pack away the Chinese food and store it in her fridge while Cameron continued washing the dishes.

"How long was I out?" Wilson asked standing up and stretching.

"Oh, I don't know twenty minutes?" Cameron smiled, though Wilson couldn't see.

"I should get home. House, you ready?"

"For you, always," and winked at Wilson who just ignored his comment altogether.

Wilson and Cameron hugged and said their goodbyes and House simply turned and looked at her when Wilson was walking out the door. He smiled simply at her. That was enough. That was all she needed.


	15. Chapter 15: Slumber Party

**Author's Note: The end is near! I'm going to be tying up the story very soon. House may be a little OOC, but I'm not all that concerned about it since it plays in with my story, so sorry if it seems weird to you. As always, thanks to everyone who reviews, especially those who review every chapter :) **

**Chapter Fifteen**

Though she wasn't allowed to go back to work quite yet, Cameron had convinced Cuddy to let her bring some paperwork and reports home that she could finish, to pass the time. She'd been awake since 9:30am, which by her standards was late, and put on a pot of coffee. She pulled a box of ranch Wheat Thins out of the cupboard and brought it to the table and opened the first file. She remembered the patient vividly, so filling out the report only took a matter of minutes. As she reached for the second folder, she heard a loud thump at her door. She looked at her door confused for a moment and realized she still hadn't gotten up and the thump got louder the second time. She got up and walked over and opened it. She wasn't surprised. She stood there staring at her old boss.

"I'm a doctor, you know," he said winking at her.

She lifted her eyebrows, "The was probably the first thing I noticed about you when you hired me for my fellowship six years ago."

He drew out a long sigh that was unnecessarily loud until he had her attention, "well, that was the only pick up line I had, thanks for shooting it down. You know most women get weak in the knees when they hear a guy is a 'doctor'."

She looked up at him amazed, "A woman who falls for that line usually isn't a doctor herself."

He snapped his finger, "right! I forgot since your presence is severely lacking at the hospital."

She watched him limp his way over to her coffee maker and casually pour two cups and brought them over to the table where she was sitting. He looked at the files stacked in neat piles on the table and pushed them aside. She hadn't seen him since he and Wilson had come over a few nights before.

"You know I'm not allowed to go back to work until I'm at a 'healthy' weight," she sighed sadly. "Pick up line?" she asked just remembering his words.

He paused for a moment, taking a sip of his coffee and studied her, "Doesn't matter now. Apparently you've decided to play hard to get."

Now she was just confused, "What are you talking about? Playing hard to get?"

"You didn't fall for my pick up line, ergo hard to get."

She smiled inwardly, "Well when you think of another one, a better one, let me know."

He watched as she picked up another folder and open it and write down some notes as she drank her coffee. He noticed that she looked better than in recent days. Her fingernails were now back to their original color, her hair looked fuller and she wasn't shivering as she had been recently.

"Why are you doing paperwork?" he couldn't fathom someone who voluntarily did their open paperwork, let alone when they're not at work.

"I don't want to fall behind for when I come back," she looked up at him.

"Don't over work yourself with paperwork, when you come back you still have to finish mine," he said seriously. There was definitely no way he was doing it himself.

She chuckled, "Yeah, yeah," she brushed him off. "What are you doing here, anyway? Aren't you suppose to be at work?"

"I figured you'd turn down my amazing pick up line, so I thought of an alternative," he answered ignoring her previous question.

"You were serious?" she was confused and curious beyond anything.

"Well I don't use that line with my hookers!" he opened his eyes big to emphasis his point and she let out a short laugh because she knew he probably wasn't joking.

"What's the alternative, then?"

"You're gonna have to come with me to find out," he said in a spooky voice.

"And if I say no?"

"If there was ever a time you should have blind faith in me, this would be it," he said seriously.

"I'll get dressed," she complied.

In a matter of moments she was out of the kitchen and in her bedroom quickly putting on a pair of jeans, a shirt, a hoodie and comfortable shoes and was back out to where House was. He had finished his coffee and stuck the empty mug in the sink. When they walked outside she was surprised to see he had brought his outdated car instead of his prized motorcycle. They drove for about fifteen minutes until House stopped in front of a gate and a security guard came out.

"Name please?" the guard asked politely while holding a sheet of paper in his hand.

"Greg House," he answered

He scrolled the list, "Alrighty, then. Go on through."

The gate opened and House drove through until he reached a small parking garage. Cameron looked around confused and House barked at her to get out of the car, so she did. He told her to follow him and they walked to the elevator where he hit the number three. They were in an apartment complex and they walked down the hallway until he came to a door. He took out his keys and unlocked it, letting them both inside. The apartment was beautiful and spacious. It had a spacious living room with an attached kitchen and balcony. There was a short hallway which lead to the master bed and bath with a smaller guest room on the opposite side.

"This is beautiful, House. Why did you bring me here? Finally thinking about upgrading after fifteen years?" she asked as she sat on the sofa that was already there.

He watched her for a moment before sitting on the recliner at the end of the couch, "No, I don't like change remember!" he joked, "But I did buy it."

She was confused. He had just said he didn't like change but yet he bought an apartment? He could sense her confusion so decided to elaborate, "Cameron. I bought it for you."

She scrunched her eyebrows and jolted her head in his direction. She looked around at her surroundings. "You what?" She nearly screamed.

"You said you were in the market for a new apartment. We both know that I need to approve the apartment because well according to you and everyone else, I need to know and control everything around me," he joked again trying to lighten the mood.

"You," she choked on her words, "you bought it, for" she looked at him, "me?"

"If you don't like it I can give it as a present to to my favorite hookers. It can be the playboy mansion of the east coast."

"No, House. I love it. I really, really do. But this isn't like you to, to buy an apartment."

"Like I said earlier, it's my alternative for a 'bad' pick up line," he showed a real smile for once.

"I should be the one buying you an apartment for saving my life, I do owe you and all. If I accept this, you have to at least let me pay you back what you spent on this place."

"No," he said sternly standing up and walking within inches of her.

"Why do this?" she asked seriously, "and don't lie."

"I don't want to get shot again. If you get a live in boyfriend who I don't approve of this time then I can ban him from the property," he said honestly as he secretly told himself that he'd ban any boyfriend of hers from the property.

"House-"

"It's somewhere you can feel safe," he added.

"I don't know how I can thank you."

"I do. We're going to have a slumber party here tonight, complete with lingerie modeling and french kiss practicing," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and in his mind thinking so many dirty thoughts about her.

"You're serious, aren't you?"

"Like a heart attack."

She smiled at him and walked closer until her arms were around his shoulders, pulling him in for a hug. Her smooth cheek was against his rough skin and she smiled. Unexpectedly, she felt him wrap his arms around her too. They held each other in embrace for what seemed like minutes before they finally locked the place up so they could go get the boxes that were already packed at her house. She was excited for tonight. He'd never admit to it aloud but he was probably more excited than she was.


	16. Chapter 16: Pillow Talk

**Chapter Sixteen**

Cameron shouldn't have been surprised when House made her watch hours of Scooby Doo, but she went along with it, seeing as how he'd just bought her an apartment. He watched as intently as he does when General Hospital is on. Cameron's pizza was barely touched, which worried him slightly as he'd devoured his half completely. When the episode was over, Cameron was nearly asleep but since House was wide awake, he was going to force her to stay up too. He didn't want to be alone.

"Cameron!" he shouted closely to her ear as if she were hard of hearing.

She was startled, "what happened?" she jumped.

"You can't fall asleep. We haven't had a pillow fight yet!" he whined.

"You know, girls don't actually do that at slumber parties," she laughed.

"That may be true, but you can't lie and say that they don't model lingerie for each other!"

"Well, I guess sometimes they do-"

"Ah ha!" he said getting up.

"Where are you going?" she looked at him curiously as he walked over to the kitchen.

He came back with a small bag in his hands and gave it to Cameron, "And go!"

She peaked inside the bag and was shocked to find what looked like skimpy lingerie in it. She shot House a glance and he was beaming, very proud of himself to have been able to pick out lingerie.

He looked at her with a semi serious look on his face, "I bought you a house!"

She rolled her eyes, wondering how long he was going to hold that over her for. She sighed and silently got up and headed to the bathroom. After undressing and redressing in the lingerie she looked at herself in the full length mirror to her side. Lacey bright red panties and a matching bra. For a moment she stood there squeezing her nonexistent love handle.

"Stop stalling and get out here!" he yelled impatiently from the living room.

"Are you sure about this?" she questioned, worried what he'd think about her weight.

"If you don't come out here the next time you leave this apartment I'm going to change the locks on you and live here myself!"

She rolled her eyes at herself in the mirror and slowly opened the door. She shivered as she walked down the hallway towards the living room. Not quite sure of what to do next she awkwardly walked in front of the TV and his eye line and stood there.

House smiled inwardly, secretly congratulating himself for his success in actually getting her to wear the lingerie he'd bought, "turn." She quickly spun around and then covered herself with her arms.

He didn't mean to but he stared at her, his eyes burning through her skin. He thought about the last time he'd seen her in her underwear and how vulnerable she had looked, how broken and shattered she was. She looked healthier. Though her bones were still prominent and the stab wound and a few bruises were still there.

"You're staring," she whispered almost upset.

"You look beautiful," he whispered back.

Not looking up at him, she silently turned and walked towards the bathroom. She closed the door and sat down on the edge of the tub with her head in her hands. She could hear his cane thumping towards the door and could hear the knob rattle as he opened it. Silently, he sat down beside her on the edge of the tub.

"He used to tell me I was beautiful. He use to show me off to his friends and his family. Then one day he just changed. He told me he was cheating on me because I wasn't good enough for him anymore. And I wanted so badly to be good for him I listened to him when he told me I was too fat. I let him abuse me. Everything he did to me, I let him," she said angrily. "Then you got pulled in. My friends got pulled in. I never wanted that to happen".

"After Wilson and I left your hotel room that night, I realized I'd forgotten my cell phone. Wilson brought me to the hospital to get my car so I could drive back and get it. When I got there, you were gone. I looked everywhere in the hotel and couldn't find you. That's when I knew you'd gone back to your apartment to face him. When I got there you were on the ground, passed out and bleeding. I threw a few punches at him, however being a cripple and all makes it hard to stand strong on two feet. He punched me down and that's when he pulled the gun on you," House looked over at Cameron whose eyes were filled with tears ready to drown her.

"It's one thing for you to get shot for your own stupidity, you didn't need to get shot for mine."

"Protecting you was all I could think about at that moment-"

"You could have died!" she argued.

"_You_ could have died!" he argued back. "You, sweet, innocent, angelic Cameron could have died at the hands of a bastard who didn't realize what he had".

She sighed defeated, "I'm sorry".

"You have nothing to be sorry for".

"Putting you through this?"

"You being in sexy lingerie right now makes up for all that," he said lifting an eyebrow.

She scoffed, "well you did buy me an apartment," she smiled as she mimicked him.

"Come on," he said standing up.

"Where are you going?" she asked curiously.

"I'm getting tired and I told you that we needed to have a pillow fight before bed," he said seriously as he opened the door and walked down the hall to her bedroom.

She scrunched her eyebrows and quickly threw her clothes back on and followed him down the hall, "I'm not having a pillow fight with you, House. We're too old for that, well I am, not quite sure about you".

He was already sitting on the bed with a pillow in hand, "but I bought you an apartment! Why are you clothes back on?"

"Because I'm cold and tired and I just want to sleep and not have pillows thrown at me".

"Buzz kill!" he hissed at her.

House threw the pillow against the headboard and she got comfortable under the covers and laid with her back towards him. He took off his shoes and made himself comfortable as well. He sighed annoyingly loud so he could capture her attention.

"What?" she asked annoyed with her face in the pillow.

"If you're not going to have a pillow fight with me then we at least need to spoon!"

"What's that, code for 'you want to cuddle'?"

"Maybe," he said as a child would when he wants something but won't admit it.

"Fine then. But I'm not moving so you're going to have to come over here."

Without a word, he moved closer to her, resting his head in the nape of her neck. He draped an arm over her and pulled her closer. He felt himself fighting sleep so he could memorize this moment. Last time he was this close to her wasn't nearly as good as this time. She was clear headed and calm. She wasn't worrying that someone was going to storm through the door and hurt her. She was safe. House had been there for her. As he let himself fall asleep finally, he hoped he wouldn't find a way to ruin this.


	17. Chapter 17: You Remind Me

A thousand apologizes everyone! Anyone who writes fanfiction on here can tell you life happens and derails the writing process. Yikes, I know it's been nearly a year. But i've spent the past week re-reading this story and trying to think of where to go next and I think I found a good direction to go in. I will totally accept hate mail due to my lack of updating. I hope you all enjoy the story so far and thank you so much for sticking with me, for those who are still reading it.

**Chapter Seventeen**

The sound of his cellphone vibrating against the nightstand awoke him in a haze. He was even more confused upon picking it up and the caller ID displayed the name, "Stacy". He quickly glanced over at Cameron, hoping she couldn't somehow see his caller ID, even though he was well aware she was asleep. Quietly and as gently as was possible for a cripple he got out of her bed and walked down the hallway.

He hesitated, "Stacy."

"Hi, Greg," she answered back casually.

"What do you want?" he asked in a hushed whisper.

"I just wanted to call and see how you were? I heard you got shot, again. I'm assuming Cameron's situation worked out?" she asked matter of factly.

"Yeah, sure everything worked out. That is if you consider me getting shot, Cameron getting stabbed and still withering away from a nasty case of ED," he snarked.

"I'm sorry, Greg. I was wondering, maybe you'd want to grab some coffee sometime and talk about, things?"

"What things do we have to talk about?"

"Anything," she said hoping.

"Stacy-" before he could say anything else he heard a stir from the bedroom. "I'll call you back." he said quickly and hung up.

He walked back towards the bedroom to see Cameron finishing up a phone call and placing her cell on the nightstand beside her.

"Hey," he smiled briefly standing in the doorway.

"That was Cuddy. She said if I could come back if I wanted to."

"I thought she was going to wait until you were at a healthy weight?" he mentally kicked himself for reminding her about the elephant in the room.

She looked down as she answered,"yeah, I can't see patients but since I've done all the paperwork I can do from home, she said I can do the rest in my office."

"No," was all he said.

"What?" she turned towards him.

"I know you well enough to know if you go back to work you're gonna 'accidentally' forget to eat. All the time. Or make excuses saying you already did."

"House-"

"You said you wanted to get better."

"You can't really think that me sitting on my ass all day is going to make me better? Why not put myself to good use and get some things done?"

"Your health comes before your work."

"I'm going back to work, House. You have a problem with it than bring it up with Cuddy."

She stood up as quickly as she could without passing out and stared at him for a minute as he stared back. She walked briskly past him and slammed the door to the bathroom, locking it. She sat on the edge of the tub with her head in her hands.

"_You're not going to work today!" Christopher shouted as he slapped her. She grabbed her cheek instantly. "You will get your ass on that treadmill and you're gonna run until I tell you to stop!"_

"_Christopher, I can't. My ribs, they hurt so badly! I need to lie down! Please!" she pleaded as she tried to get on her feet. Another slapped pushed her whole body against the ground._

"_You're not leaving this apartment until you run at least five miles. You're disgusting, I don't want people knowing that I screw a pig like you." He stood tall over her. Staring at her as if he was arguing with himself over whether just to kill her on the spot. One good punch in her state would be all it would take to put her out of her misery._

Cameron stood up and looked in the mirror to see her eyes puffy and red. She didn't even realize she was crying. It scared Cameron sometimes, when House would talk to her like that. When he'd give her an order instead of a choice. It reminded her of Christopher. It reminded her of being hurt. After she had composed herself she put on some cover up to even out her as of late pale skin and baggy under eyes. She added some mascara to brighten her eyes and some lip gloss.

"_You think make up will make you look better? Ha, don't even bother. No one looks at you. They look past you. You'll never stand out," Christopher growled at her as he watched her apply make up to cover the bruises of his slaps. _

She brushed her hair and her teeth and went back into her bedroom. House was gone. She was slightly relieved but knew avoiding her wasn't possible. He'd find her. He always does. She sighed, "it could always be worse".


	18. Chapter 18: Exes and Realizations

House tossed his ball in the air and caught it and tossed it up again and caught it. He repeated this for what seemed like an hour when in reality it'd been ten minutes. Wilson was passing by and stopped in his tracks when he saw his friend alone in his office with the back blinds drawn. He cautiously opened the door.

"Cuddy told me the good news. Cameron's back?" he sat in the seat across from House. "Were you not aware?" he asked when House remained silent. "Or you are aware and you don't agree with this?" House stopped tossing his ball in the air. "What did you do to Cameron?" Wilson suddenly panicked. "House!"

"I told her not to come back yet,"

"Why would you say that to her?"

"Am I the only one who looks at her? She's isn't better!" he said sternly.

"She's making progress, House. It takes time-"

"Progress? Go weigh her, Wilson! Guaranteed she weighs less than when we intervened. She doesn't have time." House stood up and walked out of the room leaving a confused and worried Wilson in the wake.

Cameron walked through the doors at PPTH and as she passed the clinic she saw Chase standing at the nurse's station reading through a file. She walked over to him and gently touched his arm.

"Cameron!" he wrapped his arms around her gently as if she were a piece of fine china you were afraid you were going to break. Chase hadn't seen Cameron since she'd been discharged from the hospital a week earlier.

"Hi, Chase," she spoke softly.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were on leave for another few weeks?"

"I am. Cuddy just let me come back and do some paperwork from my office so I don't fall behind,"

"Well I'm glad to have you back," he said genuinely. "Is everything alright?" he noticed the look of sadness in her eyes.

"You said if I ever needed to talk?"

"Of course, Cam. What's wrong?"

"No, not here. Maybe you could come over later and we could talk?" she asked timidly.

"Of course. I get off at 7. I'll swing by around 8?"

"Thanks, Chase. I'll text you my new address."

House stepped off the elevator and at the same time across the main lobby in the clinic, Cameron and Chase were engaging in a hug.

"It'd be so nice if Chase and Cameron got back together. He was good for her," Cuddy said walking towards him.

"You're an idiot," was all he responded.

"House!"

"You let her come back before she's ready. You're an idiot," he turned around and walked back into the elevator as the doors opened up.

He needed to get away. He couldn't leave the building now that Cuddy had seen him. He couldn't sleep in one of the exam rooms in the clinic because Chase was down there. He couldn't hole out in the ER because Cameron was in her office. He couldn't even watch soaps in coma guy's room because Wilson would easily find him. He found himself on the roof of the hospital. Leaning on the ledge he looked down at all the people going about their lives. He couldn't wrap his head around everyone living their lives as normal while Cameron was dying.

"You sounded upset on the phone," he heard a voice say from behind him. An all too familiar voice. "I figured it couldn't hurt to stop by."

"Stacy?" he turned to see her.

She wore her usual business suit with minimal makeup and straight, short hair. She walked with ease towards him in high heels on the uneven ground. She stopped next to him and leaned with her hip against the ledge, looking over at him.

"How'd you know where I was?"

"I didn't. I just know you."

"What are you doing here?" he turned back and looked towards the horizon.

"I told you. I wanted to see how you were. Just because we're not dating or having sex doesn't mean I don't care how you're doing," she said bluntly.

"I'm dandy."

"Greg, don't lie to me." He didn't answer, "It's about Cameron, isn't it?" He shut his eyes tightly when he heard her name."

"How's your husband?" he changed the subject swiftly.

"Stop deflecting!"

Before House could change the subject _again_, he was brought back to reality when his pager buzzed. In the midst of all the craziness, he'd forgotten he had a team and a case. He hobbled past Stacy and walked back into the hospital, leaving her on the roof alone.

In her office, Cameron sat at the computer inputting data and responded to days old emails. She'd been there a few hours and had already gone through three cups of black coffee. She could distantly hear the rumble of her stomach and as always, ignored it.

"Welcome back," a smiling Wilson greeted her standing in the doorway.

"Hi, Wilson, thanks," she smiled.

"I see you're already back in the swing of things,"

"Didn't take long," she chuckled.

"I was just heading over to the cafeteria, thought maybe I could buy you a salad or soup or something?" he asked gently.

She felt a lump in her throat. Her eyes darted around the room looking for some kind of excuse, any excuse as to why she couldn't go with him. She hoped her phone would ring or her pager would buzz, no such luck.

"Sounds good," she choked out.

Wilson picked up on her nervousness quickly. _House was right. She shouldn't be here. Not yet. _They made small talk as they made their way to the cafeteria. Wilson bought himself a grilled chicken ceaser salad and got Cameron a side salad at her request. She grabbed a water and he grabbed a coke. He didn't want to eat much more than her and make her feel uncomfortable. They found a quiet table in the back away from prying eyes, so she didn't feel like she had an audience. He started taking small bites of his salad as she pushed around the pieces of lettuce.

"Cameron," he put his hand gently on hers, "please. Just try eating what you can. I'm not going to get mad at you or be upset if you don't eat much."

"I'm sorry," she looked away. "I just don't know if I can do this."

"You're a grown woman, Cameron. I can't make you do anything you don't want to do but, I, as well as everyone else who cares about you, wants you to get better."

She didn't say another word. Instead she took a single piece of lettuce and brought it to her lips. She nibbled at it like a rabbit would until the small piece was gone. _You can do this. Lettuce can't hurt you. You won't even gain weight from it. Just take another piece. He's looking, just try to eat it. He'll be happy if you just try!_ Wilson smiled inwardly as she began to eat the salad in small bites. He couldn't ask for more really, she was trying.

"Didn't expect to find you here, did you know you're in a cafeteria?" a cold voice arrived at the table and directed itself towards Cameron. "You, on the other hand, didn't tell me it was time for lunch!" House looked at Wilson and shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."

That's all it took for her to lose her appetite. House. She couldn't eat around him. She almost didn't want to give him the satisfaction of saving her, though technically he had already saved her life.

"Wilson, if you don't mind, I should get back to my office. I have a lot to finish up before I go home. I'll take the salad with me. Thanks for lunch," she smile apologetically.

She didn't even look over at House as she brushed past him and was out of sight in minutes. Wilson put his head in his hands as House sat down where Cameron had been minutes earlier.

"What are you doing? She was eating!" Wilson tried hard to keep from screaming.

"You really think all of a sudden she realized the error of her ways and decided she needed to eat to live? I don't think so."

"House!"

"Speaking of people screaming my name, Stacy came by."

"You had sex with Stacy?"

"What? No, how'd you get that out of that?"

"You said screaming your name-, no, nevermind. Stacy?"

"She wanted to 'see how I was'," he said holding up air quotes.

"And?"

"And nothing. She called me this morning and I kind of had to hang up on her and then she decided to stalk me at work."

"She called you this morning? Why did you hang up on her?"

"Cameron woke up," he said almost in a whisper.

"What? You were with Cameron last night?"

"Well she _is _living in my apartment!"

"You mean the apartment _you _boughtfor_ her_?"

"It's still mine," he said possessively like a child not wanting to share.

"Wait, so Stacy called you and Cameron woke up so you hung up on Stacy?"

"Mhm," was all he said.

"Why didn't you want Cameron to know that Stacy called you?"

"She seemed so pleased when Stacy was going to be one of her lawyers a few weeks ago," he stated sarcastically.

"So is Cameron upset with you because Stacy called you this morning or because you told her not to come back to work yet?"

"She doesn't know that Stacy called me."

"What? House, trying to have a conversation with you sometimes is impossible to follow," Wilson said confused. House felt like he'd given Wilson enough information to put the pieces together, so without saying a word, he got up and walked off.


	19. Chapter 19: Running Scared

She opened the door and a smiling Chase stood on the other side of the threshold. In one hand he held a bottle of wine and in the other was a bag of assorted cheeses and crackers. She let him in and placed two glasses on the table and a tray for the cheese and crackers. They set up on the couch and she curled up with the glass of wine in her hand as he stretched out beside her.

"Thank you for coming over, I really appreciate it."

"Cameron, you know, anytime you need me, I don't care what time it is, I'll be here in a minute for you. Just cause we're not together anymore doesn't mean I stopped caring about you, stopped loving you," he said sincerely as he picked up her hand in his and gently ran his thumb over her bony fingers.

She blushed, "thank you."

He could tell she'd become a little bit uncomfortable with that last statement so he pretended to be interested in his surroundings. "I can't believe House bought this apartment for you."

She shot her gaze upwards towards him at the sound of his name, "Yeah."

"Sorry," he could tell he hit another nerve, "sore subject?"

She sighed, "he's kind of what I wanted to talk about."

"What did he do now?" his voice angered.

"He's been hanging out here lately," she said slowly and chose her words carefully, "we got into it this morning about me going back to work and the way he talked to me just reminded me of Christopher and-"

"You got scared?" he could tell where she was going.

"I know it sounds stupid and I know you're probably the last person who'd want to hear about me and House but I just needed to talk to someone I trust who knows me," she began to ramble on fast.

"Cameron- Cam, it's fine. You know you can come to me about anything. I know that what we had is over now. You know that I'd get back with you in a heartbeat but your heart has always been with him, there was never a question about that."

"I'm sorry-, Chase. My feelings for you were strong-"

"But they were stronger for him. It's fine, no need to be sorry. This isn't about us," he said in a caring manner she'd never really seen before. "So he scared you?"

"The tiniest thing can happen and it brings back a memory of a time when Christopher would-, you know. Just the way he talked to me this morning brought back a memory. I can't even look at him anymore."

"Despite the fact that House has hit me before, he'd never hurt you. I mean the guy ate a bullet for you, didn't he? I don't think he'd go through that pain if he wanted to hurt you. He's an ass, he's rude and abrasive but he does have a human side sometimes. I mean I've never seen it, but he did manage to keep Stacy all those years, right? And whatever that thing was with Cuddy. I'm sure they can vouch for his human side." he stifled a laugh when he talked about House having feelings and being human.

She drank a big gulp of wine and made sure to eat a little piece of cheese and a cracker with it. She knew how drinking on an empty stomach was never good for you. She took a long look at Chase. Sure, most of the time he acted like a teenage boy, but tonight she saw him in a different light.

"I'm sorry-" she started to say. The room became dizzy and the dim lights in the room seemed to overcome her. She felt her heart changing pace.

"Cameron?" Chase shot up and kneeled beside her.

"Chase-" She could hear him but she couldn't respond anymore. Her eyes closed and she collapsed off the couch.

House was getting putting various items from his desk into his backpack after a long day of avoiding people and playing doctor. As he swung his backpack over his shoulder he felt his cell vibrating in his coat pocket. Annoyed, he saw the caller ID was boy wonder.

"Just in time to buy me dinner!" House excitedly shouted into the phone.

"House, you need to get down to the ICU, now!" Wilson said hurriedly as if he were out of breath.

"What's wrong?" he could tell from the panic in Wilson's voice something was really wrong.

"House, just hurry!"

House could be fast when he wanted to be and in within minutes he was standing at Wilson's side. Cuddy and Chase were also there standing in a circle talking, all looking very distraught.

"What happened!" he shouted from down the hallway.

"Cameron had a heart attack," Wilson figured he should be the one to tell him.

"What?" he stopped in his tracks.

"Luckily, Dr. Chase was with her and able to perform CPR until the paramedics arrived-" Cuddy continued.

House didn't need to hear anymore. He walked to her room and stood in the doorway. Last time she had been in the hospital, he hadn't gotten past the threshold of the doorway to visit her. It was too painful to see her in that condition. And here she was again, just a few weeks later. Hooked up to IV's and machines monitoring her. He could tell this image of her was going to stay in his brain. He took a step forward. And another and finally he made it far enough in the room he was able to close the door behind him. For a moment he stood here, staring at her. Just staring. He paced back and forth realizing if he stood still he might pass out. His anger rose every time he glanced over at her. His grip on his cane became tighter every time. His palm was sweaty.

"I took a bullet for you-" he almost yelled at her. "I didn't want to bury you, so I took the bullet for you. I saved you from being murdered and you're still trying to kill yourself," he was breathing deeply, heavily, making a fist. "God, Cameron. I don't want to go to your funeral, what part of that don't you understand?" Though she was unconscious, he couldn't look at her, it hurt him too much. _Pull it together, House. _He swallowed hard. "You're not dying on me."


	20. Chapter 20: Role Reversal

It'd been a week since the heart attack. Four days since she was discharged. Two days since she painted her living room a shade of beige, which she thought would be neutral so she could redo the room any way she wanted. It'd only been less an hour she'd gone before getting another phone call which she ignored. She was tired, running on empty but still couldn't shut her eyes. She was exhausted. It was nearing ten pm when she heard the knocking on the door. An all too familiar knock. She checked the peephole before she unlocked and opened the door.

"You're ignoring me," was all he said. Cameron stared at House for a moment before she made her way to the couch and sat down. He followed slowly sitting a good distance away from her. "I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for?" she asked almost whispering.

"Chase told me what you two were talking about right before the," he hesitated, "myocardial infarction," he tried to deflect the situation by using medical terms.

"Heart attack is easier to say," she tried to ease the tension in the air.

"I didn't mean to scare you. I just didn't want you to go back to work before you were ready-"

"I heard," she hesitated cutting into his words, unsure of how to bring up the subject, "what you said in the hospital, the night I was brought in."

He just stared at her. How was he suppose to respond to that? "Oh," was all he could muster up.

"Why did you say all that to me?" she asked softly, almost not wanting to know the answar.

"I've gotten the 'Cameron's in the hospital and might not pull through' phone call twice more than i'd like," house quipped but knew she didn't fully appreciate that answar. "What do you want me to say, Cameron? I think it's pretty obvious that I care about you."

She nodded at him appreciatvely as if she hadn't fully processed his words. She slowly leaned towards him and wrapped her frail arms around his neck. He rubbed his hand on her back. As she pulled away from him she kissed him lightly on the cheek. They were face to face now, so close they could feel each other's breath. Neither of them moved, as if unsure where to go from here. Her face moved closer to his again as she slowly brought her lips to his. His lips welcomed hers and he kissed her back. She put her arms back around his neck and he pulled her closer as put his arms around her. He could feel himself becoming aroused and he pulled away fast.

"Cameron-"

"You're turning me down?" she was genuinely surprised.

"No, i'm not turning you down," he said sternly to make sure he got his point across. "You just had a-" he hesitated, "heart attack and you're still pretty frail-" he hesitated again hating his use of words, "I wouldn't be able to control myself with you if we had sex. I'd never be able to forgive myself if I hurt you-"

"You're worried you're gonna fuck me too hard?" she said straight out, surprising House.

"Pretty much," he said nearly instantly.

_Really? You pick this moment over all others to be righteous? _He tried to shake the thoughts from his head. _How many chances do you think you're going to get with her? It's a miracle she keeps coming back to you after you reject her._ He closed his eyes hard for a moment as if acting like an etch a sketch and erasing the negative thoughts in his head.

"When you get better," was all he said.

"You don't have to," he could sense a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Cameron, I do want to be with you. I want you for more than just sex." _Stop talking! Don't tell her that. She's going to get attached to you. You're going to hurt her and she's going to hurt you. _"These past few weeks, made me realize I care about you more than I originally thought." _Put your walls back up. This won't end for either of you. _He stopped for a moment, looking anywhere but in her eyes. Why did he feel the need to explain this to her?

"You can stop, House. I know you. Your head is going to explode if you say another nice thing in a row," she smiled and he slightly did as well.

_She knows me well. _"You were never just another puzzle for me to solve. It was my way of getting to know you without putting my feelings out there to get rejected." _You're going to be the one with a myocardial infarction if you don't stop talking. _His heart was beating fast.

For once he wasn't afraid to share his feelings with another human being. For once she was terrified to hear how he felt about her. _Oh god, i'm House._ She thought to herself. _Great. I'm a care bear._ He mentally kicked himself. Neither of them said a word for a few minutes. Talking about feelings exhausted them. Silently and in sync with one another they walked hand in hand to the bedroom and got under the sheets.


End file.
